Legislated Rights

The important aspects of human wellbeing outlined in human rights instruments and constitutional bills of rights can only be adequately secured as and when they are rendered the object of specific rights and corresponding duties. It is often assumed that the main responsibility for specifying the content of such genuine rights lies with courts. Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation argues against this assumption, by showing how legislatures can and should be at the centre of the practice of human rights. This jointly authored book explores how and why legislatures, being strategically placed within a system of positive law, can help realise human rights through modes of protection that courts cannot provide by way of judicial review.

'Legislated Rights makes an important contribution to contemporary rights scholarship.' Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, Judicial Power Project (www.judicialpowerproject.org.uk), 'The central thesis of this profound and thoughtful book is the crucial role of the legislature in securing and promoting human rights. The arguments command strong assent. There are many, many parts of it which are fundamental and devastating.' Honourable Dyson Heydon, Judicial Power Project (www.judicialpowerproject.org.uk), 'I very much welcome the book's overall theme that legislation gives effect to and protects human rights.' Honourable Sir Ross Cranston, Judicial Power Project (www.judicialpowerproject.org.uk), '… an important and essential addition to the library of anyone seeking to better understand the potential role of and justification for legislatures engaging in the protection and promotion of human rights. … the authors of Legislated Rights posit a convincing and scholarly foundation for resuscitating a legitimate role for legislatures in the protection, promotion and interpretation of human rights … a thoughtfully conceived and tightly argued piece of scholarship, whose relevance transcends the academy. … the publication of Legislated Rights will provide a much-needed and new institutional dimension to the academic discussion of human rights protection and promotion.' Chief Justice Glenn Joyal , Judicial Power Project (www.judicialpowerproject.org.uk), 'Legislated Rights proposes a rehabilitation of the role of legislatures in realising rights. It examines ways of reconceptualising the relation between rights and the common good. It makes a significant contribution to ongoing debates on these questions.' Ioanna Tourkochoriti, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

Paul Yowell is the Benn Fellow in Law at Oriel College, University of Oxford. Richard Ekins is�utorial Fellow in Law at St John's College, University of Oxford.