The concept of 'human rights' as a universal goal is at the centre of the international stage. It is now a key part in discourse, treaties and in domestic jurisdictions. However, as this study shows, the debate around this development is actually about human rights law.

This text scrutinizes the extent to which legalization shapes the human rights ideal, and surveys its ethical, political and practical repercussions. How does the law influence what we think about rights? What more is there to such rights than their legal protection? These expert contributors approach these...

The question of the authority of international law over domestic authorities and the duties of state officials to international law are fundamental concerns in international law theory and practice. The Authority of International Law: Obedience, Respect, and Rebuttal addresses these concerns by reviewing the present accounts of authority in international law constructing the authority of international law as imposing three different layers of duties on domestic officials: the duty to obey, the duty to respect and the duty to rebut, carefully setting out the duties owed by domestic political...