An English Bill of Rights? Some Observations from Her Majesty's Former Colonies in America

73 Pages Posted: 28 May 2008

Abstract

Great Britain depends for the protection of its citizens' individual rights and liberties on Parliament, which struggled for centuries to wrest from the Crown the freedoms enjoyed today. In recent years, however, some have voiced the concern that a now omnipotent Parliament itself poses a threat to the freedoms it helped secure. Moreover, the protection of rights offered by the European Convention on Human Rights, which Britain signed but never implemented domestically highlights possible inadequacies in Parliament's protection of individual liberty. Thus the call has arisen for an English Bill of Rights. This paper focuses upon Lord Wade's proposed Bill, which would incorporate the European Convention into the domestic Law of Great Britain. It considers the implications such a Bill would have upon British constitutional structure, including the fundamental legal principles that one Parliament may not bind another and that the British judiciary may not overturn Acts of Parliament. The paper concludes that, in spite of these obstacles, the inherent flexibility of the Anglo-American system of law would permit enactment of a Bill of Rights.

Keywords: United Kingdom, constitutional reform, constitutional law, judicial review, bill of rights, parlimentary sovereignty

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K33, K39, K49

Suggested Citation

Fitzgerald, Peter L., An English Bill of Rights? Some Observations from Her Majesty's Former Colonies in America. Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 70, No. 5, 1982, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1137624

Peter L. Fitzgerald (Contact Author)

Stetson University - College of Law ( email )

1401 61st Street South
Gulfport, FL 33707
United States
727-562-7874 (Phone)
727-347-3738 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
241
Abstract Views
3,218
Rank
230,645
PlumX Metrics