<P> With the Lords and Commons unable to come to agreement by the end of the Parliamentary year the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, invoked the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, an infrequently used legislative device that allows the Commons to overrule the Lords where agreement cannot be reached . The Hunting Act was only the seventh statute since 1911 enacted using these provisions . The House of Lords was criticised for undemocratically blocking the legislation; however, other newspapers and broadcasters condemned Tony Blair's Labour administration for giving in to what they perceived as the prejudicial views of anti-hunting Labour backbenchers . </P> <P> The act came into force on 18 February 2005, three calendar months after it received royal assent . </P> <P> Challenges to the Act which questioning the legality of the Parliament Act 1949 in the High Court and Court of Appeal failed (for example Jackson v Attorney General) The House of Lords in their judicial capacity agreed with the lower courts in a judgment delivered in October 2005 . </P> <P> An application for judicial review was made to the High Court of England and Wales which argued that the anti-hunting legislation contravenes individual human or property rights protected in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and under European Community law and on grounds of the free movement of goods and services . The application was dismissed by the High Court in July 2005, the Court of Appeal in June 2006 and the House of Lords in November 2007 . An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was ruled inadmissible . </P>

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