Full Description
There is a developing body of legal reasoning in the United Kingdom Supreme Court in which members of the senior judiciary have asserted the primary role of common law constitutional rights and critiqued legal arguments based first and foremost on the Human Rights Act 1998. Their calls for a shift in legal reasoning have created a sense amongst both scholars and the judiciary that something significant is happening. Yet despite renewed academic and judicial interest we have limited insight into what common law constitutional rights we have, how they work and what they offer. This book is the first collection of its kind to systematically explore both the content and role of individual common law constitutional rights alongside the constitutional significance and broader implications of these developments. It therefore contributes not only to our understanding of what the common law might be capable of offering in terms of the protection of rights, but also to our understanding of the nature of the constitutional order of which such rights are an integral part.
Contents
1. The Nature and Role of Common Law Constitutional Rights
Mark Elliott and Kirsty Hughes
PART I
THE CONTENT OF COMMON LAW CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
2. The Mythology and the Reality of Common Law Constitutional Rights to Bodily Integrity
Natasa Mavronicola
3. Access to Justice: From Judicial Empowerment to Public Empowerment
Se-shauna Wheatle
4. A Constitutional Right to Property?
Tom Allen
5. A Common Law Constitutional Right to Privacy - Waiting for Godot?
Kirsty Hughes
6. Freedom of Expression and the Right to Vote: Political Rights and the Common Law Constitution
Jacob Rowbottom
7. Searching for a Chimera? Seeking Common Law Rights of Freedom of Assembly and Association
Gavin Phillipson
8. Equality: A Core Common Law Principle, or 'Mere' Rationality?
Colm O'Cinneide
PART II
THE ROLE AND POTENTIAL OF COMMON LAW CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
9. The Fundamentality of Rights at Common Law
Mark Elliott
10. Fundamental Common Law Rights and Legislation
Alison L Young
11. Common Law Constitutional Rights and Executive Action
Joanna Bell
12. Common Law Constitutional Rights at the Devolved Level
Brice Dickson
13. The Reach of Common Law Rights
Thomas Fairclough
