‘We need to get rid of this European Convention! We can’t have foreign judges in foreign courts telling us what to do—we need to take back control.’ These and similar sentiments could be heard not only in the hostelries up and down the country but even occasionally in the Inns of Court. But we should be careful what we wish for, because the consequences may be the opposite of that intended.
Drafting the Convention
It might be helpful therefore to look at what some seek to get rid of, and how it all started. On 4 November 1950, some 15 European states met at Rome to sign the European Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The UK was a prominent member of that meeting and indeed the text of the convention itself was largely the work of a team of Oxbridge professors headed by Sir David Maxwell Fife, later to occupy the woolsack as Lord
