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Book review: Public Law after the Human Rights Act

Document Cited authorities 5 Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorChris Himsworth
Published date01 December 2011
DOI10.1177/096466391102000404
Date01 December 2011
Subject MatterBook reviews
SLS421950 557..572 570
Social & Legal Studies 20(4)
this in far fewer words is not a fair criticism – academics these days are legally forced
to write books. But the conundrum is still there: what do we do with those who abuse
the freedoms offered by legal interconnectivity? This reviewer, like the author, will
have to dig still deeper in the ongoing search for more plurality-conscious understand-
ings of ‘the law’.
References
Cover R (1983) Nomos and narrative. Harvard Law Review 97: 4–68.
Menski W (2006) Comparative Law in a Global Context: The Legal Systems of Asia and Africa,
2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Menski W (2010) Fuzzy law and the boundaries of secularism. Potchefstroom Electronic Law
Journal 13(3). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract¼1752910.
WERNER MENSKI
SOAS, University of London, UK
TOM HICKMAN, Public Law after the Human Rights Act. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2010,
392 pp., ISBN 9781841139692, £45 (pbk).
There is an interesting divergence in the early stages of this book between the introduc-
tory words of Paul Craig in his generous foreword and then of the author himself at the
beginning of his first chapter. Craig refers to the Human Rights Act 1998 (‘HRA’) as a
‘major watershed in UK public law . . . arguably the most important statute on public
law in the last century . . . of major significance in the reconfiguration of public law’
(p. v). Tom Hickman, on the other hand, opens with the statement: ‘Human rights prin-
ciples have transformed public law in the United Kingdom. The transformation began
well before the [HRA] but the [HRA] represented a shift in gear. It accelerated the
re-configuration of public law . . . ’ (p. 1).
Both formulae proclaim the importance for UK public law of the HRA. It has come to
dominate the work of the courts. The judiciary have faced new and challenging tasks.
They, and academic commentators, have had to explain and either justify or criticize the
judges’ new role. Hickman, in this insightful and sophisticated...

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