Political Capacity Building: Advancing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland

Abstract

Bills of Rights: A Comparative Perspective (Intersentia 2014) 3. McQuigg notes that Australia is the only democratic nation in the world which does not have a Bill of Rights of some description. R. Hirschl, Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Harvard University Press 2004) 220. Hirschl has described this phenomenon as a 'booming industry'. When Bills of Rights are described as being entrenched, this means they cannot be easily repealed by a simple majority of Parliament. Examples where countries have adopted constitutionally entrenched Bills of Rights are South Africa, Kenya, Canada (the Canadian Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) and the United States. Examples of non-entrenched, statutory Bills of Rights are New Zealand's Bill of Rights Act 2000 and the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998.