Particularly valuable for both academics and practitioners, Human Rights and the Private Sphere: A Comparative Study, focusing primarily on civil and political rights, analyzes the interaction between constitutional rights and freedoms and private law.

Particularly valuable for both academics and practitioners, Human Rights and the Private Sphere: A Comparative Study analyzes the interaction between constitutional rights, freedoms and private law.

Focusing primarily on civil and political rights, an international team of constitutional and private law experts have contributed a collection of chapters, each based around a different jurisdiction. They include Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, the UK, the US, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Union.

As well as exploring, chapter by chapter, the key topics and debates in each jurisdiction, a comparative analysis draws the sections together; setting out the common features and differences in the jurisdictions under review and identifies some common trends in this important area of the law.

Cross-references between the various chapters and an appendix containing relevant legislative material and translated quotations from important court decisions makes this volume a valuable tool for those studying and working in the field of international human rights law.

This text is a critical study of the public/private law divide in the common law tradition. Professor Oliver's starting point is that special substantive duties of legality, fairness and rationality are imposed by the common law on bodies discharging public functions, but not always on bodies discharging what are considered 'private' functions. She questions the validity of the traditional dichotomy, and proposes new criteria for imposing such duties in accordance with underlying values, including the control of power and respect for the individual's autonomy and dignity. Written by a leading law academic, this is an important and original contribution to public law literature, providing an informed and considered overview for legal academics and students.

This set of essays explores how constitutions change and are changed in a number of countries, and how the 'constitution' of the EU changes and is changed. For a range of reasons, including internal and external pressures, the constitutional arrangements in many countries are changing. Constitutional change may be formal, involving amendments to the texts of Constitutions or the passage of legislation of a clearly constitutional kind, or informal and organic, as where court decisions affect the operation of the system of government, or where new administrative and other arrangements (eg agencification) affect or articulate or alter the operation of the constitution of the country, without the need to resort to formal change. The countries in this study include, from the EU, a common law country, a Nordic one, a former communist state, several civil law systems, parliamentary systems and a hybrid one (France). Chapters on non EU countries include two on developing countries (India and South Africa), two on common law countries without entrenched written constitutions (Israel and New Zealand), a presidential system (the USA) and three federal ones (Switzerland, the USA and Canada). In the last two chapters the editors conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the jurisdiction-based chapters and explore the question whether any overarching theory or theories about constitutional change in liberal democracies emerge from the study.

For a range of reasons - including internal and external pressures - the constitutional arrangements in many countries are changing. Constitutional change may be: formal, involving amendments to the texts of Constitutions or the passage of legislation of a clearly constitutional kind; or informal and organic, as where court decisions affect the operation of the system of government, or where new administrative and other arrangements (e.g. agencification) affect or articulate or alter the operation of the Constitution of the country, without the need for government to resort to legislation. This book explores how Constitutions change and are changed in a number of countries, and how the 'Constitution' of the EU changes and is changed. The countries in this study include - from the EU - a common law country, a Nordic one, a former communist state, several civil law systems, parliamentary systems, and a hybrid one (France). Chapters on non-EU countries include two on developing countries (India and South Africa), two on common law countries without written constitutions (Israel and New Zealand), a presidential system (the US), and three federal ones (the US, Canada, and Switzerland). In the final chapter, the editors conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the jurisdiction-based chapters and explore the question whether any overarching theory or theories about constitutional change in liberal democracies emerge from the study.

This new account of constitutional reform in the UK offers a detailed discussion of all the significant changes that have developed following the elections of 1997 and 2001. Issues discussed include the recent devolution of power in Scotland and elections of Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland; reform of the House of Lords and the system of hereditary peers; the influence of the Human Rights Act, changes to electoral systems and party funding and the significance of the European dimension on the British Constitution. Dawn Oliver presents a broad overview of the latest developments in constitutional reform while analysing the implications of these reforms for the theories of democracy, citizenship and good governance within an UK context. Discussion is also given on the gradual move away from a political constitution to a more law-based system, the general ethics and standards within Parliament and consideration of possible future reforms in the areas of regional government, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, the text is well referenced to aid further research and offers an extensive bibliography and list of official publications. It is essential reading for all those studying constitutional law and reform as part of their law or politics degree programmes, while academics and civil servants in these areas will also find the discussions and analysis in the work of interest.