The Struggle for Civil Liberties: Political Freedom and the Rule of Law in Britain 1914-1945. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, Oct, 2000

K.D. Ewing and C.A. Gearty. Oxford University Press. [pound]50.00. 451 pages. ISBN 0-19-825665-5. This book concentrates on three basic questions. What are civil liberties? How are they protected in Britain? What is the role of the judges as defenders of civil liberties? The authors use the word 'struggle', a somewhat 'loaded phrase', in their title but justify it by arguing that the legacy of civil liberties 'has been one of struggle against restraint'.

The authors identify six 'struggles' in the period between 1914 and 1945: the Great War, the Communist Party of Great Britain, the General Strike and its aftermath, the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, the rise and fall of fascism and, finally, 'the Irish Dimension'. The authors put forward two controversial theses: civil liberties and human rights must not be confused: in this they remind one of Burke's dictum that there are no 'rights of man' but 'rights of Englishmen'. Secondly, 'the traditional foundation of civil liberties in English law - Dicey's conception of the Rule of Law - is very unstable... no more than a rhetorical statement'. Civil liberties in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century 'have not been effectively underpinned by legality'. Both the courts and Parliament (controlled by the Executive) failed in their duties. Civil liberties survived because of those individuals 'who refused to give up their freedom'.