On fantasy island : Britain, Europe and human rights

257 Pages·2016·1.165 MB·English

by  Conor Gearty

ON FANTASY ISLAND

C O N O R G E A R T Y
O N F A N T A S Y
I S L A N D
Britain, Europe, and
Human Rights
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The idea for this book first came to me when I was invited by the
WyndhamTrusttogiveitsCorbishleyLecturefor.Ideliveredthe
lectureonNovemberatLSE,underthetitle‘OnFantasyIsland’.
IamverygratefultotheTrustfortheinvitationtogivethetalk,andto
LSEforhostingit.Thebookthathasgrownoutofthatone-offeventis
a culmination of conversations I have had over many years with
colleagues and friends, about the Human Rights Act and its true
meaning in UK domestic law. Prominent among these have been
Jonathan Cooper, David Davis, Francesca Klug, John Phillips, and so
many colleagues at the law department at LSE that it would be
invidious to single out even a cluster of them for special mention.
As ever my human rights graduate students have been a stimulus to
deepthoughtinwaysthathavereallyhelpedevenwithouttheirfully
knowingthistobethecase.ProfessorAoifeNolanhasreadthebook
in draft from start to finish and I owe her special thanks for the
extensive, helpful improvements that she suggested. On the web
front,CarolineMocketthasbeenanimaginativeandvaluedcolleague
increatingandthensupportingthewww.onfantasyisland.co.ukwhich
welaunchedbeforethebookwaspublishedandwherepartsofithave
beenregularlyposted.Iamgratefultoher,andtoAsmaaAkhtarand
ZoePaxmanatLSE’sInstituteofPublicAffairsforhelpingmetoexploit
theweb’spotentialsoastospreadtheideasthataretobefoundmore
fullydevelopedhere.LastlyI’dlikeverymuchtothankOxfordUniversity
Press,inparticularmyeditorAlexFlach,forsupportingthebookfrom
thestartandforbeingsoopentofreshwaysofdisseminatingitscontent
viathewebbeforeofficialpublication.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface xi
Part I. Introduction 
. Why the Human Rights Act Matters 
Part II. The Fantasies 
. The Myth of the MarvellousPast 
. The Seductive Power of the Present 
. The Inevitability of Human Rights 
. The Supremacy of the Human Rights Act 
. The Supremacy of the Judges 
. The Supremacy of Strasbourg 
. A Charter for the Bad 
Part III. The Facts 
. Protecting the Exposed 
. Making a Difference 
. Telling Us Who We Are 
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