ABSTRACT

The matters that fall into the general jurisprudence can be described as follows: we will be concerned, first of all, with the general structure of the Act and the mechanisms that it sets up. We will then turn our attention to the linked concerns of the vertical and horizontal effect of the HRA and the vexed question of the definition of public authority. After examining the equally troubled question of the Act’s retrospective effect, we will look at the relationship of common law and European human rights law, and the question of whether or not the judges have seized upon the HRA as a catalyst to develop an indigenous human rights law that draws on the traditions of common law as much as the European legal inheritance. We will conclude with some brief observations on the nature of the general jurisprudence of human rights.