Written by two leading practitioners, this text provides a comprehensive and systematic treatment of human rights law and practice in the UK and offers detailed analysis of the effects of incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998, including an examination of the wider impact of the new regime upon the civil and criminal law more generally.
It draws systematically upon European Convention case law, common law principles and practice, experience from Canada, New Zealand and other jurisdictions, as well as detailed analysis of the new Act itself, to provide essential guidance on how the new law is working in practice, while the annual supplements track the case law as it is actually decided. The first section deals with the nature of rights, problems of incorporation, the impact of the Convention prior to incorporation and the interpretation of human rights instruments.
The main part of the book consists of a detailed analysis of the rights granted by the Convention, and the effects of their incorporation. Each chapter in this section focuses upon a particular right, and contains a discussion of the pre-existing status of the right in English law, a thorough analysis of the European case law, and full examination of the likely impact of incorporation on English law. This impact is considered in relation to a number of subject areas, including business and commerce, criminal law and justice, education, employment, immigration, media, mental health, police and prisoners.
Each chapter has detailed appendices drawing out lessons from the experience under the Canadian Charter and the New Zealand Bill of Rights as well as discussion of the relevant right in other jurisdictions. The book also has a section dealing with remedies and procedure under the Human Rights Act and the procedure for taking cases to the European Court of Human Rights, plus a second volume containing a wide range of relevant materials.
Regular paperback supplements keep the book fully up to date with relevant case-law and related legislation as the implementation of the new Act proceeds. The second supplement, included in this set, brings the main work (published in October 2000) fully up to date to July 2002 and includes all the relevant case-law as the Human Rights Act continues to be tested in the courts.
