Introduction - The UK and European Human Rights: A Strained Relationship?

Abstract

The chapter is the introductory chapter of the book The UK and European Human Rights: A Strained Relationship?’ (edited by KS Ziegler, E Wicks and L Hodson, Hart Publishing 2015). The chapter introduces into the various themes of the book which focuses upon the topical and contentious issue of the relationship between the UK and the European systems for the protection of human rights from a doctrinal and contextual perspective. The book, in its inquiry into the reasons for the ‘strain’ in the relationship seeks to untangle the elements of a complex relationship which lie both in the European and the domestic constitutional context. It includes two contextual perspectives by exploring the approach of other jurisdictions to European human rights and the role of the media in contributing to debates in the UK. The chapter provides a short overview of the book.

Keywords: European human rights, ECHR, EU human rights, EU Charter on Fundamental Rights, European Court of Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights and national courts, implementation of the ECHR, judicial dialogue, subsidiarity, ‘mirror’ principle, Parliamentary sovereignty, state sovereignty, relations