Citation

Khaliq U, Young J. Legal Stud. 2001; 21(2): 192-225.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Society of Legal Scholars, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1748-121X.2001.tb00571.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Ethnic and cultural diversity within the UK has ensured that English courts regularly have to resolve cultural conflicts. This paper concentrates on cultural conflicts in the courts where there is an international dimension to this issue and where persons not resident in the UK seek the help of the English courts. The paper does this by reference to two areas of law, asylum and child abduction, which also allows a comparison between the approach to human rights by judges in the public and private law spheres. The paper aims to highlight the in consistency of the approach among judges in child abduction cases, where the role of human rights is unclear. It contrasts this with the judicial approach in asylum cases and English law in general, where we argue human rights are increasingly influencing the attitudes to various practices justified on a cultural or religious basis.