Notes on the ECHR and the Disunited Kingdom ‘After’ Brexit – In memoriam Scott Crosby
| Author | Gavin Robinson |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2032284420976938 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Notes on the ECHR and
the Disunited Kingdom
‘After’ Brexit – In memoriam
Scott Crosby
Gavin Robinson
Universit´
e du Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Abstract
When the idea of this special edition occurred to the team behind the New Journal of European
Criminal Law, my first thought was to go back through all of Scott Crosby’s contributions in print as
editor-in-chief and see whether a mini-retrospective on the themes and views therein would be
worthy of inclusion here – by Scott’s own standards. These notes focus on what gradually became
the single biggest concern expressed in Scott’s editorials: the perilous position of the European
labelled ‘Brexit plus’: a British exit from the ECHR system. I begin with Scott’s views on the
European Union (EU) Referendum and the Brexit process. Next comes the great uncertainty
currently surrounding the future of Convention rights in the United Kingdom, set against the
emphasis placed by the editorials on the instrumental role of the ECHR in fostering peace across
the whole of Europe, within and beyond the territory of the EU. In the event that Brexit plus
should materialise, writing in the wake of polls showing all-time record support in Scotland for
secession from the United Kingdom I close by asking whether Scotland might be able to ‘leave a
light on for Strasbourg’.
Keywords
Brexit, ECHR, human rights, United Kingdom, editorials
Foreword: On a ship called dignity
I first met Scott Crosby in the summer of 2010, at an academic conference in Brussels. There I
spoke publicly for the first time on the topic of my incipient but already-funded doctoral research.
Corresponding author:
Gavin Robinson, Facult´
e de Droit, d’Economie et de Finance, Universit´
e du Luxembourg, 4, rue Alphonse Weicker,
Luxembourg City, 1511 Luxembourg.
E-mail: gavin.robinson@uni.lu
New Journal of European Criminal Law
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284420976938
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2021, Vol. 12(1) 4 –13
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