Protecting Constitutionalism in Treacherous Times: Why 'Rights' Don't Matter

Research output: Chapter

Abstract

Common lawyers have focused too much on rights talk and especially on constitutionally entrenched Bills of Rights in critiquing Anti-Terrorism legislation enacted by democratic common law countries since September 11, 2001. This paper illustrates the ways in which rights talk acts as a distraction from fundamental principles of legality when Anti-Terrorism laws are considered, arguing that embedded rights play three roles antithetical to sustaining governance in accordance with fundamental principles of legality: the roles of paper tiger, Trojan horse, and narcotic.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConstitutionalism
Subtitle of host publicationAn International Perspective
EditorsA.V. Narsimha Rao
Place of PublicationHyderabad
PublisherAmicus Books
Publication statusPublished - 2008

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