The Human Rights Act

About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Professor Merris Amos explores the 1998 Human Rights Act in the context of present debates over the replacement of this Act with a new UK Bill of Rights. In the first module, Professor Amos offers some important contextual information on the 1998 Human Rights Act, before moving on in the second module to outline its key features. In the third module, Professor Amos discusses the relationship between the Human Rights Act and the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, drawing on some key recent case studies to structure the discussion. In the fourth and fifth modules, Professor Amos covers the two key rights protections in the UK – the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy – again drawing on case studies for analytical and illustrative purposes. Finally, Professor Amos offers some concluding thoughts on the current debate around the UK potentially overturning the 1998 Human Rights Act and adopting a new Bill of Rights, outlining the constitutional issues and political concerns relevant to this debate. This course is particularly relevant for students and teachers of UK Politics, as well as those more generally interested in current constitutional debates.

About the Lecturer

Professor Merris Amos Merris Amos is an expert on the UK’s Human Rights Act 1998 and the relationship between national institutions and the European Court of Human Rights. She has worked at the University of Essex and the University of Westminster, and is now based at Queen Mary University of London as Professor of Human Rights Law. Her book Human Rights Law Third Edition (Oxford: Hart, 2021) is the leading work on the Human Rights Act.