Emphasising pragmatism over principle : substantive, procedural and remedial deficiencies in the Human Rights Act 1998

Abstract

This thesis is an extended analysis and critique of the aims, substantive guarantees, and procedural framework of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Act purports to provide the United Kingdom with a bill of rights by incorporation of the European Convention for Protection of Rights and Freedoms. However, the substantive guarantees offered by the European Convention, and the Human Rights Act, are insufficient to effectively protect the wide variety of circumstances in which individual rights can be violated in a modern democracy. Further, the procedural and remedial framework created by the Human Rights Act cannot adequately enforce human rights protection. Accordingly, the Human Rights Act represents a good starting point in the British bill of rights debate, but an insufficient conclusion. Rather, a novel, uniquely British bill of rights would have been the most appropriate approach