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British Anti-Discrimination Law: An Introduction, Christopher Mccrudden

Penn State International Law Review

The United Kingdom is a signatory of a number of international treaties protecting various aspects of human rights, including freedom from discrimination. Yet, there is no legislation in this country protecting a comprehensive list of human rights in the manner of the United States Bill of Rights, although there have been a number of unsuccessful atempts to enact such legislation since 1969. Moreover, prior to race relations legislation, there was no general rule, policy or principle in common law directly relevant to combating racial discrimination or incitement to racial hatred.

The inadequacies of the common law and statutes stimulated several …