ABSTRACT
Democracy is not achieved by formal constitutional provisions but to a greater or lesser extent may be achieved by participation within that structure. If the elegant balance between rights and protection and democracy is to be achieved by the Human Rights Act, it will be because compliance with the Act is a choice to be taken by Parliament in every legislative decision following a judicial decision under the Act. The concept of the 'elegant balance' rests on the concept of legitimate breach of the Human Rights Act within the ongoing structure of the Act. The Human Rights Act should be applauded for improving routes for contestation stimulating legislative remedies for injustices that might go without legislative solutions for want of Parliamentary time, and creating controversies around matters which have become accepted without significant continuing debate, such as prisoner voting. Republican political theory requires that a state should track the worldview of the public itself.
