Ms Merris Amos, BEc (Sydney) LLB (Sydney) BCL (Oxon.) Solicitor, Supreme Court of NSW and Supreme Court of England and Wales

Profile

Merris Amos is Professor of Human Rights Law in the Department of Law. She has previously held posts at the University of Essex, University of Westminster and the Australian Human Rights Commission. Her research and teaching focusses on national human rights law, in particular the UK Human Rights Act 1998, and the relationship between national and international human rights laws and institutions. Her book, Human Rights Law Second Edition (Oxford: Hart, 2014) is an important reference point for scholars, students and practitioners. The Third Edition will be published in 2021. Since 2014 she has been a member of the Executive Committee of the UK Constitutional Law Association and in 2018 she was appointed as the UK member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law. She is an Expert member of Britain in Europe.

Undergraduate Teaching

• LAW6019 UK Human Rights Law
• LAW6020 Advanced UK Human Rights Law
• LAW4001 Public Law

Research

Publications

Since 2014

Books

• Human Rights Law Second Edition (Oxford: Hart, 2014). The Third Edition will be published in 2021.
• “Human Rights Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom Part 1” SSRN.

Articles

• “Human Rights Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom Part 2” SSRN.
• “A UK Bill of Rights Fit for Purpose” (2020) Howard Human and Civil Rights Law Review (forthcoming).
• “From Dynamic to Static: The United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights” (2018) 42 Teoría y Realidad Constitucional (Constitutional Theory and Practice).
• “The Value of the European Court of Human Rights to the United Kingdom” (2017) 28 European Journal of International Law 763-785.
  
• “The Reform of Sections 3 and 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998” Queen Mary School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 238/2016.
• “The Second Division in Human Rights Adjudication: Social Rights Claims under the Human Rights Act 1998” (2015) 15 Human Rights Law Review 549-568.
• ‘Law making in the rights hostile environment of the United Kingdom’ in J. Dbeljak and L. Grenfell (Eds.) Law Making and Human Rights (Sydney: Thomson Reuters, 2020).
• ‘The Positive Right to Freedom of Expression and Party Anonymity in Legal Proceedings’ in A. Kenyon and A. Scott Positive Free Speech: Rationales, Methods and Implications (Oxford: Hart, 2020).

Chapters

• With M. Canto-Lopez and N. Jansen-Reventlow ‘Ruusunen v Finland’ in L. Hodson (Ed.) Feminist Judgments in International Law (Oxford: Hart, 2019). (Book awarded American Society of International Law 2020 Certificate of Merit)
• ‘Can European consensus encourage acceptance of the European Convention on Human Rights in the United Kingdom?’ in P. Kapotas and V. Tzevelekos (Eds.) Building Consensus on European Consensus (Cambridge: CUP, 2019)
• ‘The influence of British courts on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights’ in R. McCorquodale and J. Gauci (Eds.) British Influences on International Law 1915-2015 (London: BRILL, 2016). (Circulated to panel appointing UK Judge for European Court of Human Rights in
• ‘An unprincipled mess: party anonymity in legal proceedings in the United Kingdom’ in A. Koltay (Ed.) Comparative Perspectives on Freedom of Expression (Budapest: Wolters Kluwer, 2016)
• ‘Damages for violations of human rights law in the United Kingdom’ in E. Bagińska (Ed.) Damages for Violations of Human Rights – A Comparative Study of Domestic Legal Systems (Warsaw: Springer, 2016)
• ‘The impact of human rights law on measures of mass surveillance in the United Kingdom’ in F. Davis, N. McGarrity and G. Williams (Eds.) Surveillance, Counter-Terrorism and Comparative Constitutionalism (Oxford: Routledge, 2014).

Supervision

Professor Amos welcomes applications for PhD supervision in the broad areas of national and European human rights law. Her current PhD students are:

• Daniel Hogers (defining crimes against humanity)
• Nadia Shah (the lawfulness of current UK policy on military drones)

Public Engagement

Since 2018

• Convener Society of Legal Scholars Annual Seminar 2020, The Human Rights Act After Twenty Years: Evolution, Impact, Future Directions (60 participants)
• 22 April 2020: Presenter - ‘Clashing human rights law duties during the COVID-19 Pandemic’, The State’s Obligation to Protect Webinar, University of Liverpool, University of Leeds, Strasbourg Observers
• 17 June 2019: Presenter - ‘The evolving jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights’, Scottish Public Law Group Annual Conference, Edinburgh.
• 27 November 2018: Presenter - ‘The impact of Article 2 ECHR in the UK’, Knowing Our Rights Symposium, British Academy, London.
• 9 November 2018: Evidence - Joint Committee on Human Rights Twenty Years of the Human Rights Act.
• 1 October 2018: Presenter - ‘What are the human rights and fundamental rights challenges after Brexit?’, Civil Society in a Post Brexit Democracy, Public Law Project, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Liberty, Oxford.
• 5 September 2018: Keynote - ‘The future of human rights law in the United Kingdom’, Public Law Section, 2018 Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, London.
• 4 September 2018: Keynote - ‘Brexit and human rights protection’ Annual Seminar of the British Association of Comparative Law, London.
• 11 and 12 June 2018 - WG Hart Legal Workshop 2018, Building a 21^st Century Bill of Rights, Co-Director with Professor Roger Masterman (Durham) and Dr Helene Tyrrell (Newcastle).
• 19 June 2018: Presenter - ‘Abuse of the constitution for political gain: the United Kingdom’s proposed derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights’, Workshop 2, IACL World Congress, Seoul.
• 22 May 2018: Presenter - ‘What should a UK bill of rights look like?’ Human Rights Law at a crossroads: what directions after Brexit? Centre for European Law and Internationalisation, University of Leicester.
• 22 February 2018: Discussant - Noel Malcolm Human Rights and Political Wrongs: a New Approach to Human Rights Law Yeoh Tiong Law Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law, Kings College London.

• Member of the Human Rights Collegium
• Member of the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context (CLSGC)

Related news

• Why UK approach to replacing the Human Rights Act is just as worrying as the replacement itself
  29 June 2022
• Professor Amos and Dr Chowdhury provide written evidence into the Overseas Operations Bill
  24 September 2020
• Professor Merris Amos presents her research on COVID-19 and human rights law
  8 September 2020
• Professor Merris Amos interviewed for BBC 5 Live Drive on victims of serious crime
  22 February 2018
• Merris Amos interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live 'UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights'
  2 May 2014
• Merris Amos interviewed on relationship between UK and ECHR
  1 August 2013
• 'Imran Khan and Panel: Does Britain Need Europe's Human Rights Laws?' Merris Amos on the discussion panel
  30 January 2012