Human Rights in Europe: Commentary on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

The Charter of Fundamental Rights provides the European Union with something it has never had before: a core human rights document. Similar in concept to the U.S. Bill of Rights, the Charter is profoundly different in execution, reflecting its own historical context and distinct European perspective on the nature of people and society. First proposed in 1999, the Charter became EU law ten years later, with the ratification of the EU Reform Treaty, also known as the Lisbon Treaty, in late 2009. With 54 articles providing fundamental rights in such diverse areas as life, equality, physical integrity, education, gender, health care, families, access to information, consumer activity, environmental protection, and access to justice, the Charter is certain to have a profound effect on what it means to be European in the 21st century.

Human Rights in Europe presents an article-by-article analysis of the Charter's provisions through the work of some of Europe's leading legal scholars. The authors, who are all professors at leading Italian universities, have written insightful critiques that analyze the Charter from the social, legal, and jurisprudential contexts of existing European and international human rights law, including the constitutional law of EU member countries. Heavily footnoted, with a massive index, and including a foreword that provides a full history of the drafting and enactment of the Charter, Human Rights in Europe is an essential guide to the EU's most important human rights document.

"The breadth of the sources of on which the commentaries rely is impressive… The commentaries capture the complexities of the subject matter while still being readable and giving insight into the multi-national human rights landscape. The text would make an ideal supplement in a law school classroom or a perfect addition to a legal library." ― Law & Politics Book Review

William Mock is a Professor at the the University of Illinois - Chicago School of Law.