HAMLYN - College of Social Sciences and International Studies ...

4. Human Rights
The Human Rights Act 1998 is due to come into force fully in
October 2000. 1 I believe that it will prove to be one of the most
significant changes in the history of our legal system. It seemed
appropriate to devote the last of my Hamlyn lectures on the
State of Justice to this subject.
The story began 25 years ago almost to the day. On December
4, 1974, Lord Justice Scarman (as he then was), the Hamlyn
lecturer for that year, called for an entrenched Bill of Rights to
protect fundamental and inviolable human rights. Means had to
be found, Scarman said,
"whereby (1) there is incorporated into English law a declaration of
such rights; and (2) these rights are protected against all encroachments
including the power of the state, even when that power is
exerted by a representative legislative institution, such as Parliament
2"
I covered the Scarman Hamlyn Lecture in my capacity as Legal
Correspondent of The Guardian. Realisation of its potential
political importance came the next day when I saw that the
lecture was the front-page lead story. 3 The subject became a
talking point. Organisations and individuals took positions on
the merits of the issue—"for" or "against" a Bill of Rights,
entrenched or otherwise. The position from which I took part in
the campaign 4 was "for"—subject to recognition that having a
1 It is already in force under the devolution legislation for Scotland and Wales—
the Scotland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. For details see,
for instance, Lester and Pannick, eds., Human Rights Law and Practice (Butterworths,
1999) pp. 275-285, 313-314.
2 English Law—the New Dimension (1974) at p. 18.
3 December 5,1974.
4 See especially Michael Zander, A Bill of Rights? (1st ed.), Barry Rose, 1975 (4th
ed., Sweet & Maxwell, 1997).
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