Gavin Phillipson

This book interweaves an authoritative authorial commentary – significantly expanded from the last edition - with extracts from a diverse and contemporary collection of cases and materials from three leading academics in the field. It provides an all-encompassing student guide to constitutional, administrative and UK human rights law.This fourth edition provides comprehensive coverage of all recent developments, including the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, restrictions on judicial review (Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015), changes to judicial appointments (Crime and Courts Act 2013), the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, Scotland Act 2016 and draft Wales Bill 2016. Recent devolution cases in the Supreme Court, including Imperial Tobacco (2012) and Asbestos Diseases (2015) are fully analysed, as is the 2015 introduction of English Votes for English Laws. The remarkable Evans (2015) ‘Black Spider memos’ case is considered in a number of chapters. The common law rights resurgence seen in Osborn (2013), BBC (2014) and Kennedy (2014) is analysed in several places, along with other key developments in judicial review such as Keyu (2015) and Pham (2015). Ongoing parliamentary reform in both Lords and Commons, including major advances in controlling prerogative powers, are fully explained, as is the adaptation of the core Executive to Coalition Government (2010-2015). There is comprehensive coverage of key Strasbourg and HRA cases (Horncastle (2010), Nicklinson (2014), Moohan (2014), Carlile (2014)), and those in core areas of freedom of expression, police powers and public order (Animal Defenders (2013), Beghal (2015), Roberts (2015), Miranda (2016)) and the prisoners’ voting rights saga, up to Chester (2015).

This book interweaves an authoritative authorial commentary – significantly expanded from the last edition - with extracts from a diverse and contemporary collection of cases and materials from three leading academics in the field. It provides an all-encompassing student guide to constitutional, administrative and UK human rights law.This fourth edition provides comprehensive coverage of all recent developments, including the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, restrictions on judicial review (Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015), changes to judicial appointments (Crime and Courts Act 2013), the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, Scotland Act 2016 and draft Wales Bill 2016. Recent devolution cases in the Supreme Court, including Imperial Tobacco (2012) and Asbestos Diseases (2015) are fully analysed, as is the 2015 introduction of English Votes for English Laws. The remarkable Evans (2015) ‘Black Spider memos’ case is considered in a number of chapters. The common law rights resurgence seen in Osborn (2013), BBC (2014) and Kennedy (2014) is analysed in several places, along with other key developments in judicial review such as Keyu (2015) and Pham (2015). Ongoing parliamentary reform in both Lords and Commons, including major advances in controlling prerogative powers, are fully explained, as is the adaptation of the core Executive to Coalition Government (2010-2015). There is comprehensive coverage of key Strasbourg and HRA cases (Horncastle (2010), Nicklinson (2014), Moohan (2014), Carlile (2014)), and those in core areas of freedom of expression, police powers and public order (Animal Defenders (2013), Beghal (2015), Roberts (2015), Miranda (2016)) and the prisoners’ voting rights saga, up to Chester (2015).

This book presents cutting-edge analysis of one of the most significant constitutional crises in recent British history: the prolonged and intense struggle between government and parliament for control over Brexit. It argues the crisis was very largely caused by the emergence of an Executive-centric approach to governance it dubs ‘Whitehall Plus’, and the strong parliamentary-push back it both provoked and responded to. The book shows how the crisis exposed and widened deep fault-lines running through core doctrines and practices of the British constitution – profound disagreements long held unresolved and in abeyance, but which exploded into high-octane conflict during the period.

Does hate speech undermine democracy, by attacking its most vulnerable members? Does it threaten the equal dignity of all citizens? Or are democracy and equality degraded not by hateful expression, but by censorship? Do hate speech bans give governments too much control over thought and ideas, or do bans secure the conditions for ideas to be meaningfully debated? Should each society choose its own rules? Or are some principles of free expression universal? Whom should hate speech bans protect: racial and ethnic groups, religious communities, women, sexual minorities, the disabled? Should we ban hateful words and images in public spaces but not on the internet? Heinze and Phillipson draw on law, politics, philosophy and ethics to debate these questions. For Phillipson, narrowly drawn hate speech bans are essential to the social contract – a prerequisite for democratic deliberation, and a symbolic protection of every citizen’s basic dignity. Heinze replies that punitive rules imposed to silence hateful views damage democracy, and governments have more legitimate and effective means of combating harmful speech. Drawing upon European, American and Commonwealth perspectives, this book will be of interest not only to lawyers, but also to readers in philosophy, politics and journalism.

Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of Article 10 ECHR, as received through the Human Rights Act 1998, on the substantive law governing freedom of expression in the media. Fully up to date, the book provides extensive coverage of crucial recent developments in this field; these include: the key cases of Ashworth and Punch in the area of contempt; the ground-breaking privacy decisions in Von Hannover v Germany and Campbell v MGN; full consideration of theoretical approaches to explicit speech and blasphemy, including a detailed critique of Strasbourg case-law in the area; detailed discussion of the new offence of incitement to religious hatred; the new scheme for content regulation of broadcasting under the Communications Act 2003 in the light of Prolife Alliance; a full survey of recent domestic and Strasbourg caselaw in the areas of copyright and political defamation, and analysis of the early impact of the Freedom of Information Act. The authors - both leading academics in the field - have drawn on significant comparative decisions to formulate a coherent and provocative critique of the relationship between media law and freedom of expression, and suggested principles which make a significant contribution to the legal discourse surrounding media freedom in the Human Rights Act era. The result is a book which provides a scholarly and theoretically informed analysis of this very topical subject, of interest to those studying at all levels and practising in this area of law.