CFP: Building a 21st Century Bill of Rights – London, England

Papers are invited for the WG Hart Legal Workshop 2018 – ‘Building a 21st Century Bill of Rights’ – to be held at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, June 11-12, 2018.

Almost all States have some form of a bill of rights in their national legal system. Whilst their specific content will vary, most cover many of the same issues such as the procedure for amendment, links with international law and institutions, and the status of the bill of rights in relation to other laws. The purpose of this workshop is to fill a significant gap in practice and scholarship and make an original contribution to current debates by bringing together scholars to discuss the construction of an effective 21st century bill of rights. Whilst there has been discussion in the UK concerning the adoption of a “British” Bill of Rights, debate has focused on – and been largely limited to – addressing perceived negative characteristics of the Human Rights Act 1998. Creative thinking about topics such as the process of drafting a bill of rights, the role of human rights-promoting institutions, the extension of human rights law to the private sector and the experience of other jurisdictions is largely either absent or compartmentalised.

Deadline: Abstracts of approximately 300 words and a short speaker biography should be submitted to the Academic Directors: Merris Amos (m.e.amos[@]qmul.ac.uk); Roger Masterman (r.m.w.masterman[@]durham.ac.uk); Helene Tyrrell (helene.tyrrell[@]ncl.ac.uk) by December 31, 2017. Contributions from early career researchers will be particularly welcomed and will be integrated into the workshop sessions.

About the author

Reference Librarian, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University