Legal Protection of Human Rights : Sceptical Essays

The value and legitimacy of using courts to limit the powers of governments in the domain of human rights is a significant ongoing debate. This book provides a critical review that explores the alternative means for protecting and promoting human rights. This group of twenty-four leading human rights scholars from around the world present a variety of perspectives on the disappointing human rights outcomes of recent institutional developments and consider the prospects of reviving the moral force and political implications of human rights values.

Educated in Britain, Tom Campbell was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stirling and Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow before being appointed Professor of Law at the Australian National University and then Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) at Charles Sturt University. He is the author and editor of several books, including Seven Theories of Human Society, Rights, and Justice.


Keith Ewing is Professor of Public Law at King's College London, and is one of the country's leading civil liberties lawyers. He is the author of Freedom under Thatcher: Civil Liberties in Modern Britain (with Conor Gearty) and his other books include Bonfire of the Liberties, The Right to Strike and The Struggle for Civil Liberties (also with Conor Gearty).


Adam Tomkins has held the John Millar Chair in Public Law at the University of Glasgow since 2003. Prior to that he taught at St Catherine's College, Oxford, and at King's College London. He is the author of a number of books, including the Clarendon Law Series title Public Law and also British Government and the Constitution (with Colin Turpin).