The Countryside Alliance today began a high court challenge to the ban on foxhunting, which was pushed through parliament last night despite the opposition of the House of Lords.
The group - which has led a fierce campaign to save the centuries-old tradition of hunting with hounds - began what could be a long route through the courts by lodging papers seeking a judicial review.
These will be studied by a single judge, who will have to decide whether there is an "arguable case" that should go to a full high court hearing.
Countryside Alliance members are basing the case on the claim that the 1949 Parliament Act, which was used by anti-hunt MPs to force the law through, is illegitimate. It allows MPs to push through legislation against the will of the Lords if it has been rejected by peers over two sessions.
The countryside group, being represented by Sir Sidney Kentridge QC, argues that the act - which replaced the original Parliament Act of 1911 - is illegitimate, because it was forced through parliament, despite the Lords' opposition, by use of the previous act. The 1911 act said laws could be pushed through following three sessions of parliament.
The papers were lodged in the names of John Jackson, the Countryside Alliance chairman; Mair Hughes, a farrier's wife from the Rhondda, in Wales, and Patrick Martin, a member of the Bicester hunt.
Lord Donaldson, a former Master of the Rolls and one of Britain's most senior retired judges, said in a radio interview that the legal case had "100% strength".
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