DO WE NEED A BILL OF RIGHTS?
| Published date | 01 March 1976 |
| Author | Lloyd of Hampstead |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1976.tb01448.x |
| Date | 01 March 1976 |
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Volume
39
March
1976
No.
2
DO
WE
NEED
A
BILL
OF
RIGHTS?
THE
title of this paper perhaps savours more of popular journalism
than of the solemn measured language of jurisprudence.
I
hope
nevertheless you will acquit me of choosing it solely
on
that account.
There is in some quarters
a
rising tide of enthusiasm for
a
so-called
Bill of Rights, and
I
have accordingly chosen this title as
a
means
of
submitting to you a few thoughts of my own.
If
these are found to
be at all provocative this may at least serve to trigger
off
a stimu-
lating discussion. At the same time
I
am aware of the ambiguities
of this title and that some preliminary explanations are needed if
I
am to avoid appearing under its guise to advance views which
I
in
no
way wish to maintain.
I
will therefore begin by indicating
in the first place certain lines of thought which
I
am not seeking
to controvert, or which it is not my intention to raise or discuss at
all in this article.
In the first place, it will hardly surprise you
to
receive my assurance
that
I
do not at all seek to oppose the idea of human rights recognised
and protected by law.
Secondly,
I
have
no
wish to contend that certain of such legally
recognised and protected rights may not properly be treated as more
fundamental or more significant than others and may thus be
deserving of some special form of legal protection.
Thirdly, it is not my intention in the present context, to stir up
again the familiar controversy regarding
natural
rights: Whether
these exist or
not;
how
if
they do they might be identified or defined;
whether their place must be acknowledged in any legal system worthy
of the name; these and similar intriguing issues are not those that
I
am
now
seeking to discuss.
Lastly,
I
have
no
intention
at
this moment of embarking upon
what is really
a
technical exploration of the question whether the
United Kingdom may or may not be under a legal obligation to
1
This is the text
of
a
paper delivered
on
April
5.
1975, to the second Conference
of
the United Kingdom Scction
of
the Association for Legal and Social Philosophy
held at Cambridge. The paper
was
in fact written in August 1974, several months
kfore the delivery
or
publication of Sir Leslie Scarman’s masterly Hamlyn Icctures.
English Law-The New Dimension.” Part
I1
of which,
as
is well-known, contains
what is certainly the
most
important and influential recent statement
of
the case
in
favour
of
a
Bill
of
Rights. Some references will be made
to
this
work
in the notes
added to this article hereafter.
121
VOL
39
(2)
1
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