HUMAN RIGHTS AND NATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEMS: CONSTITUTIONAL
DISHARMONY?
Prof. Jim Murdock
School of Law – University of Glasgow
Synopsis of Keynote Speech
Legal Symposium on
‘Human Rights Protection under Modern Constitutional Law’
Why has the vision of human rights proved so difficult to realise in practice?
The promise of a new era in the legal protection for individuals appears increasingly to have
been too great a challenge for States. Increasingly in the United Kingdom, for example,
political and also judicial sympathy for the concept has been waning. Much of this concern is
grounded upon the perception that the notion of subsidiarity has been replaced by too
activist an approach by the European Court of Human Rights, a criticism that exists
elsewhere.
This lecture will examine some key concerns at national level, and attempt to conclude
whether such concerns are well-placed.