Launch of "Legislated Rights"
The Programme for the Foundations of Law & Constitutional Government, together with the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, launched the new book Legislated Rights on 23 May, a co-authored book discussing the role of legislatures in protecting and promoting rights.
Legislated Rights was co-authored by Grégoire Webber (Queen's), Paul Yowell (Oxford), Richard Ekins (Oxford), Maris Köpcke-Tinturé (Barcelona), Bradley W. Miller (Court of Appeal for Ontorio) and Francisco J. Urbina (Pontifical University of Chile), and has been published by Cambridge University Press.
The book argues that 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.
To launch the book, students and academics listened to commentary on it from (left to right) Grégoire Webber, Aileen Kavanagh, John Finnis (chair), Timothy Endicott and Kate O'Regan.
