The Human Rights Act 1998 and constitutional principles

Abstract

The article assesses the interaction between the United Kingdom's traditional constitutional principles and the innovative Human Rights Act 1998, which introduces a range of substantive, constitutional values through ‘Convention rights. These values are compatible with collective as well as individual interests, and the scheme of the Act accommodates existing constitutional principles. The Act should therefore generate evolutionary rather than revolutionary change. The limited measure of judicial review of primary legislation should not threaten parliamentary sovereignty. In its technical detail the Act represents a small step beyond the principle of dualism of national and international law, subtly affecting national sovereignty and influencing the research agenda of legal practitioners and academics. The main constitutional effect of the Act, however, will be to bolster Rule of Law principles, with new remedies focusing attention on the notion of equality before the law and putting the conceptual distinction between public and private law under increasing pressure.