Contested Words : Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Speech in Liberal Democracies

In modern liberal democracies, rights-based judicial intervention in the policy choices of elected bodies has always been controversial. For some, judicial intervention has tended to trivialize and impoverish democratic politics. For others, judges are better understood as contributing to a healthy dialogue between the different spheres of the constitution. This book offers a contribution to on-going debates surrounding the judicial role in protecting human rights in western society.

In modern liberal democracies, rights-based judicial intervention in the policy choices of elected bodies has always been controversial. For some, such judicial intervention has trivialized and impoverished democratic politics. For others judges have contributed to a dynamic and healthy dialogue between the different spheres of the constitution, removed from pressures imposed on elected representatives to respond to popular sentiment. This book provides a critical evaluation of ongoing debates surrounding the judicial role in protecting fundamental human rights, focusing in particular on legislative/executive abridgment of a core freedom in western society - namely, liberty of expression. A range of types of expression are considered, including expression related to electoral processes, political expression in general and sexually explicit forms of expression.