Delivering Rights How the Human Rights Act is Working and for Whom

As is well known the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) is a constitutional innovation,but can its scheme deliver? This timely and provocative book probes the extent to which the HRA is guaranteeing rights and whether it is transforming the legal landscape.

This companion text to Understanding Human Rights Principles (Hart Publications 2001) is the culmination of a six-month project where key elements of the HRA were analysed and subjected to detailed scrutiny by expert practitioners and academics. The result is seven chapters of the highest quality which examine the following subjects including the reach of the Act and its jurisdictional scope and how to strike the balance under the HRA between interpretation and incompatibility. Two chapters look at remedies for breach of human rights. The first under the HRA and the second using Community law principles. The text then goes on to consider assessment of fact, due deference, and the wider impact of the Human Rights Act in administrative law. It then asks what is public power? And looks at the courts’ approach to the public authority definition under the Act. Finally access to court under the Human Rights Act is examined including standing, legal assistance and third party intervenors.

The book’s contributors are the leading experts in the field including Dinah Rose, Nathalie Lieven, Janet Kentridge, Kate Markus, Richard Clayton QC, Peter Roth QC, and Tim Owen QC. It provides an unparalleled examination of the scheme of the Human Rights Act and its component parts and it is of direct relevance to the practitioner and academic.