This page highlights some of the general literature on human rights law. Reports and academic studies of particular legislation are identified in the guides. 

     philosophy

The essays in Theories of Rights (New York: Oxford Uni Press 84) edited Jeremy Waldron and Philosophical Issues in Human Rights (New York: Random 86) edited by Patricia Werhane & David Ozar provide a point of entry into contemporary moral philosophy and human rights. On Human Rights (New York: Basic Books 93) edited by Stephen Shute & Susan Hurley is more eclectic.

Ronald Dworkin's Taking Rights Seriously (Cambridge: Harvard Uni Press 77), Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State & Utopia (New York: Basic Books 74), John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard Uni Press 71), Alan Gewirth’s Human Rights (Chicago: Uni of Chicago Press 82), Russell Hardin’s Morality within the Limits of Reason (Chicago: Uni of Chicago Press 88) and Joel Feinberg's Rights, Justice & the Bounds of Liberty (Princeton: Princeton Uni Press 80) have been influential during the past three decades.

Richard Tuck's Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press 79) is a comprehensive introduction to the classical literature. Peter Junger's 1995 Why The Buddha Has No Rights (txt) comments on the Buddhist tradition.

     rights and law

Much of the literature on anti-discrimination law is dauntingly technical, self-congratulatory or overly polemical. Two useful background collections are Non-Discrimination Law: Comparative Perspectives (Hague: Kluwer 99) edited by Titia Loenen & Peter Rodrigues and Anti-Discrimination Law Enforcement: A Comparative Perspective (Brookfield: Avebury 97) edited by Martin MacEwen.

There's a broader discussion in the two volume The Law of Human Rights (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 00) by Richard Clayton & Hugh Tomlinson and in Theodor Meron's Human Rights & Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law (Oxford: Clarendon 89).

     Australian law

We've noted particular Australian works in the individual guides, for example George Williams' Human Rights under the Australian Constitution (Melbourne: Oxford Uni Press 99) and A Bill of Rights for Australia (Sydney: Uni of NSW Press 00).

Others include Chris Ronalds' Discrimination Law and Practice (Annandale: Federation Press 98), Michael Kirby's Through The World's Eye (Annandale: Federation Press 00) and Hilary Charlesworth's concise Writing In Rights: Australia and the Protection of Human Rights (Sydney: Uni of NSW Press 02).

Peter Bailey's Human Rights: Australia in an International Context (Melbourne: Butterworths 90) has been superseded by Human Rights in International & Australian Law (Melbourne: Butterworths 00) by Stuart Kaye & Ryszard Piotrowicz and by Human Rights & Australian Law: Principles, Practice and Potential (Annandale: Federation Press 98) edited by David Kinley.

     New Zealand

For New Zealand see Rights & Freedoms: the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 & the Human Rights Act 1993 (Wellington: Brooke's 95) edited by Grant Huscroft & Paul Rishworth and Justice, Ethics & New Zealand Society (Auckland: Oxford Uni Press 92) edited by Graham Oddie & Roy Perrett.

     and other nations

For the UK and other EU jurisdictions see Anti-Discrimination Law (Aldershot: Dartmouth 91) edited by Christopher McCrudden and Discrimination: The Limits of Law? (London: Mansell 92) edited by Bob Hepple & Erika Szyszczak.

McCrudden and Gerry Chambers co-edited Human Rights & Civil Liberties in Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press 93).

     UN Declarations

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Common Standard of Achievement (Hague: Nijhoff 99) edited by Gudmundur Alfredsson & Asbjorn Eide is a somewhat self-congratulatory collection from the hyman rights professoriat.

There's a more tart account in Human Rights As Politics and Idolatry (Princeton: Princeton Uni Press 01) edited by Amy Gutmann, NGO's and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (New York: St Martins 98) by William Korey and White Hats or Don Quixotes?: Human Rights Vigilantes in the Global Economy (PDF) by Kimberly Elliott & Richard Freeman. Costas Douzinas, in The End of Human Rights (Cambridge: Hart 00) despairs of

triumphalist column writers, bored diplomats and rich international lawyers ... whose experience of human rights violations is confined to being served a bad bottle of wine.

There's a more positive view in Richard Falk's Human Rights Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World (New York: Routledge 00).

For a detailed philosophical and historical analysis see The International Bill of Rights: the Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (New York: Columbia Uni Press 81) edited by Louis Henkin, James Nickel's Making Sense of Human Rights (Berkeley: Uni of California Press 87) and The Political Economy of Civil Society & Human Rights (London: Routledge 98) by Gary Madison.

     treaties and enforcement

For perspectives on treaty-making powers and limitations under the Australian constitution, of particular relevance for the UN Conventions, see Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth Power to Make and Implement Treaties - the 1995 report of the Senate Legal & Constitutional References Committee.

The federal Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade has an online Australian Treaties Library on AustLII (here), which identifies current international instruments.

There's a broader treatment in The Effect of Treaties in Domestic Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell 87) edited by Francis Jacobs & Shelley Roberts and Delegating State Powers: The Effect of Treaty Regimes on Democracy and Sovereignty (Ardsley: Transnational 00) edited by Thomas Franck.

For questions of enforcement - highlighted in decisions by the Commonwealth Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission regarding vilification, privacy and online accessibility - see in particular Enforcing International Human Rights in Domestic Courts (Hague: Nijhoff 97) edited by Benedetto Conforti & Francioni Francesco and European Human Rights Convention in Domestic Law - A Comparative Study (Oxford: Clarendon 83) by Andrew Drzemczewski.

     a new right?

UNESCO has ambitiously argued (PDF) that access to information is a fundamental human right in the 21st century.

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