A General Right to Conscientious Exemption: Beyond Religious Privilege

The book argues that there is in the US, Canada and UK, a general right to conscientious exemption available to a person who objects to any legal obligation whatsoever on the basis of a religious or non-religious conscientious belief. The book provides a liberal defence of this right and argues that it should be considered a defining feature of a liberal democracy. A general right to conscientious exemption is a legal right to conscientiously object to any obligation imposed by law and to receive from a court an exemption from complying with such obligation. The general right defended in the book is not an absolute right. A court may refuse to grant an exemption if doing so would disproportionately impact the rights of others or the public interest. The book suggests how the general right should be balanced against important rights, such as non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

John Adenitire is a Strategic Lecturer in the School of Law at Queen Mary, University of London. He completed his PhD at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He has researched at Cambridge, Durham, Birmingham, the UCL Constitution Unit, the Bingham Centre and the UK Commission on a Bill of Rights.