ABSTRACT
The very first edition of this book dealt in considerable detail with the Bill of Rights debate, the advantages and disadvantages of a written human rights guarantee and the deficiencies of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereafter ‘the Convention’). It also considered the various human rights enforcement mechanisms. The reception of the Convention into UK law via the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 has rendered that debate largely defunct, but knowledge of the history of the Convention in the UK remains essential. Political and public support for some form of Bill of Rights grew overwhelming by the mid-1990s, but the resulting statute, the HRA, bears the marks of several compromises. The debate is now likely to centre upon the status of the Convention in UK law, its effectiveness as a human rights guarantee and the improvements in domestic human rights protection which are resulting from it and will result from the introduction of the HRA. Essay questions are likely to ask you to consider gaps and inadequacies in both the Convention and the 1998 Act. Now that the HRA has been fully in force for some years, some commentary on the significant early case law will be expected. The role of judges has now come under fresh scrutiny, since they hold an important new role as human rights watchdogs, yet lack the ultimate power of overriding legislation which breaches the Convention. Many different styles of essay question are possible on this large and wide ranging topic; the following questions cover most of the debate at the time of writing. Certain relevant issues are also touched on in Chapter 2.
