Publication

Legitimate Aims and Ulterior Purposes in Human Rights Law: Comparative Perspectives

Joe Finnerty has co-edited the 2026 Symposium in the Human Rights Law Review entitled Legitimate Aims and Ulterior Purposes in International Human Rights Law: Comparative Perspectives.

Author: Joseph Finnerty
Date: 15 January 2026
Links: Legitimate Aims and Ulterior Purposes in Human Rights Law: Comparative Perspectives

Consisting of seven articles, two of which are co-authored by Joe, the Symposium critically appraises these related doctrines that articulate the goals that are permitted and the motivations that are prohibited when restricting human rights and freedoms. The Symposium adopts a decidedly comparative methodology, considering how (international) (human rights) courts and tribunals vary in their approach to purpose review. The Symposium identifies instances of convergence and divergence across four dimensions: (i) levels of scrutiny of legitimate aims, (ii) interpretation of the scope of legitimate aims, and (iii) approaches to evidence and proof under relevant treaty and constitutional legal provisions. The Symposium opens up a new agenda in comparative human rights law and calls for further research, conceptual, normative and empirical, into purpose review in international human rights law and comparative constitutional law.