First published in early 1997, this collection of 27 essays by a group of lawyers and academics seeks in various ways to provide an understanding of human rights law, and an understanding of the relationship between law and human rights. Human rights is a very interdisciplinary field of study, and can be viewed from anthropological, philosophical, political, historical and even rhetorical perspectives. These essays inquire critically both as to the limitations of the subject and what it has the potential to achieve.