Blackstone's Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998

• New edition of this celebrated guide to an important piece of legislation, written by leading experts in the field
• Provides a clear and concise explanation of how the European Convention and Human Rights Act 1998 work and have been applied by the courts
• Highlights key European and domestic cases on human rights
• Summarizes the interpretative techniques and procedures that lawyers need to understand to bring a human rights claim
• Contains a copy of the Human Rights Act 1998 as amended, and the European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

New to this edition

• Analyses the government's proposals on a Commission for a Bill of Rights and possible changes to the Human Rights Act
• Considers the developing contradictions between the jurisprudence of the ECHR and domestic authorities
• Covers the Strasbourg procedures, implementation of Protocol 14 on improving the efficiency of the European Court, as well as the possible implementation of further rights
• Explains the relationship between the European Convention and the new EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
• Includes coverage of all significant cases in the European Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court, including in the areas of privacy (MGN v UK), extradition (Norris v United States of America), criminal law (R v Horncastle), voting rights (Greens v UK,) and housing (Manchester City Council v Watts)

Readership: Solicitors and barristers (not just specialist human rights practitioners, but also general practitioners); law teachers; students; and local authority users.

John Wadham, Solicitor and Group Director of the Legal Directorate, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Helen Mountfield QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers, Elizabeth Prochaska, Barrister, Matrix Chambers, and Christopher Brown, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

John Wadham is the Group Legal Director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), a solicitor, and a recognized expert on human rights and equality. He has acted for clients in most of the courts and tribunals in this country, including the Court of Appeal and House of Lords, and has also specialized in cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He is the co-author of the Blackstone's Guide to the Equality Act, Blackstone's Guide to the Freedom of Information Act and Blackstone's Guide to the Identity Cards Act. John was also a member of the Government's Human Rights Act Task Force. Before moving to the EHRC John spent four years as the full time Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. John was previously the Director of Liberty (the human rights organization) where he lobbied for a body like the EHRC for many years.

Helen Mountfield QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers. Helen focuses primarily on public law, but also has a substantial practice in employment law, election law, and information law. Issues of human rights, discrimination, and EU law intersect across her whole practice.

Elizabeth Prochaska is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, where she focuses on human rights and public law.

Christopher Brown is a barrister at Matrix Chambers. He specializes in competition law, general EU law and public law, in all of which areas of human rights points frequently arise.

1: Introduction
2: The Framework of the European Convention on Human Rights
3: The Framework of the Human Rights Act
4: Enforcing the Human Rights Act
5: The Interaction between Convention Principles and European Law
6: The Convention Rights: Absolute Rights
7: The Convention Rights: Limited and Qualified Rights
8: The Convention Protocols
9: Beyond the Domestic Courts: Taking a Case to Strasbourg
10: Researching Human Rights Jurisprudence
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Human Rights Act 1998 (as amended)
Appendix 2: European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms