On Fantasy Island: Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

by Conor Gearty

In the 2015 UK General Election, one of the major pledges of the Conservative party was the repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998, to be replaced with a UK Bill of Rights. In this book, Professor Conor Gearty puts forth his case for keeping the Human Rights Act by dissecting the so called 'fantasies' that are driving the case for repeal. Analysing the debate through the perspective of British law, history, politics, and culture, he examines what arguments are in place for the repeal of the Act and how these can be dismissed as no more than 'English exceptionalism'.

Structured in three parts, the book first exposes the myths that drive the anti-Human Rights Act argument. Second, in a counter-balance to these arguments, Gearty outlines how the Act operates in practice and what its impact really is 'on the ground'. Third, he looks to the future and the kind of Britain we want to live in, and how, for all its modesty, the survival or otherwise of the Human Rights Act will play a pivotal part in that future.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction

258 pages, Hardcover

Published November 8, 2016

Reviews

[David McGrogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

An absolutely dreadful book, sloppily written and riddled with errors. It reads as though it was written in a stream of consciousness over a few weeks, and was published without proper proofreading or editing. The argument is, meanwhile, terribly confused - Gearty can never make up his mind whether courts are neutral or political, whether legal reasoning is objective or ethical, whether it is better for judges or elected politician to make decisions, whether Britain is imperialistic or hopelessly inward looking, whether judges are fusty and out of touch or sensitive and progressive, whether the Human Rights Act protects the poor or the privileged, whether it has a big constitutional impact or small... In summary, a messy diatribe, poorly thought through.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Convincing argument about necessity of the Humans Right Act and insightful points about common law cases to support his argument. Sometimes he might better appreciate the importance of the process of the decision making and not just the decisions themselves. Though, very thought-provoking.