ABSTRACT
This chapter considers two concepts that are not always, or indeed usually, dealt with in English Legal System textbooks: the two interrelated concepts are ‘the rule of law’ and ‘human rights’. However, it is the contention of the authors that ideas about the rule of law and human rights are, and always should have been, at the core of our understanding and assessment of any, and certainly our own, legal system, and further that they are assuming a more apparent and increased centrality and importance in relation to its operation and justifi cation. However, it has to be recognised from the outset that any consideration of the specifi c ideas inherent in these general concepts cannot be approached satisfactorily from the purely ‘black letter’ legal perspective, but must engage the student in a related consideration of the socio-political context from which they derive and to which they relate and on which they operate. Further, the concepts themselves are fl uid and as will be seen, different commentators have adopted widely varying approaches to them.
