In any country where there is a Bill of Rights, constitutional rights reasoning is an important part of the legal process. As more and more countries adopt Human Rights legislation and accede to international human rights agreements, and as the European Union introduces its own Bill of Rights, judges struggle to implement these rights consistently and sometimes the reasoning behind them is lost. Examining the practice in other jurisdictions can be a valuable guide. Robert Alexy's classic work, available now for the first time in English reconstructs the reasoning behind the jurisprudence of the German Basic Law and in doing so provides a theory of general application to all jurisdictions where judges wrestle with rights adjudication.

• Preface


• A Theory of Constitutional Rights and the British Constitution


• 1: Robert Alexy: The Content and Purpose of a Theory of Constitutional Rights


• 2: The Concept of a Constitutional Rights Norm


• 3: The Structure of Constitutional Rights Norms


• 4: Constitutional Rights as Subjective Rights


• 5: Constitutional Rights and Legal Status


• 6: The Limits of Constitutional Rights


• 7: The General Right to Liberty


• 8: The General Right to Equality


• 9: Rights to Positive State Action


• 10: Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Rights Norms in the Legal System


• Postscript

Robert Alexy is Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at the Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany. Between 1994 and 1998 he was President of the German Section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. He is known and admired worldwide as a leading philosopher.
Julian Rivers was appointed Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol after studying at the University of Cambridge and the University of Gottingen. This is his first book.