ABSTRACT
In many Western Democracies, the rights of citizens are enshrined in a constitutional document sometimes known as a Bill or Charter of Rights. As Chapters 1 and 3 will explain, the rights protected under such a constitutional document are often given a special status; in a number of countries they are entrenched. Until the inception of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), the UK had no similar charter of rights. In 2000, the HRA afforded further effect to the European Convention on Human Rights. But even under the HRA, the rights are not entrenched. Traditionally, in order to discover which freedoms are protected and the extent of that protection, it has been necessary to examine the common law, statutes and the influence of treaties to which the UK is a party, especially the European Convention on Human Rights.
