Bill of Rights for the United Kingdom

Bill of Rights for the United Kingdom Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . Bill of Rights for the United Kingdom Over the years, there has been an ongoing debate over whether there should be a Bill of Rights for the United Kingdom (UK). The Government is committed to considering the need for a Bill of Rights and other political parties have expressed interest in developing one. Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has demonstrated in its report that there are many groups in society, such as older people and adults with learning disabilities, whose human rights are insufficiently protected. They argue that UK Bill of Rights and Freedoms (BRF) is desirable in order to provide necessary protection to all, particularly to the marginalized and vulnerable people. This essay will discuss on the two main issues considered by the Committee, namely the judicial review (JR) and entrenchment, in reference to some legal and political theories outlines as structured below. Arguments in favour of JR/ entrenchment As mentioned in the report of JCHR , the adopting of the BRF sets out a shared vision of a desirable future society: it is aspirational in nature as well as protecting those human rights which already exist. JCHR suggests that a BRF should give lasting effect to values shared by the people of the UK by including liberty, democracy, fairness, civic duty, and the rule of law. In considering JCHR’s proposal, it is pivotal to gain a simplistic appreciation of Ronald Dworkin’s democracy theory to illustrate the arguments in favour of JR and entrenchment. Dworkin has been a firm defender of JR of constitutional rights in the United States. Dworkin believes that government should be bound to certain rights by the very authority that structures and empowers governmental procedures, and this commitment should be enforced by the courts. He says that a constitution principle enforced by independent judges is not undemocratic and there is no trade-off between rights and democracy. Democracy does not insist on judge s having the last word, but democracy also does not insist that the judges must not have the last word. He suggests that in order to provide a democratic justification for the judges’ prevailing, one has to show not only that they have democratic credentials but that they have better democratic claim than that asserted in the legislative action in question. Further, Dworkin alleges that democratic constitutional theory ought to be oriented primarily to results. In every society there will be questions whether enacted legislation conflicts with the fundamental principles of democracy. These questions should be assigned to whatever institution which is likely to answer them correctly. In some countries, such as UK, this may be the legislature but often there is reason to think that the legislature is not the safest vehicle for protecting the rights associated with democracy. In that case, we should assign the issue to the courts, if we think they are a safer bet. Dworkin says w e should not be deterred by the fact that courts are not constituted in a way that makes them democratically accountable. Accountability does not matter, all a partisan of democracy should be concerned is that courts are reliable in making good decisions about democracy. Dworkin seems to be suggesting that if a political decision is about democracy or the rights associated with democracy; then all that matters is that the decision must be right, from a democratic point of view.