Staff List
Prof Ian Leigh, LL.B, LL.M, Solicitor
Contact (email at ian.leigh@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
IAN LEIGH has been a Professor of Law at the University of Durham since 1997. He is Co-Director of the Durham Human Rights Centre. He has held appointments at several universities, including visiting appointments at Osgoode Hall Law School, Ontario and the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is a (non-practicing) Solicitor of the Supreme Court (England and Wales).
He has published widely in the fields of public law and human rights, including books dealing with religious liberty, with local government law and democracy, and the oversight of security and intelligence agencies, as well as many journal articles.
He has delivered training on human rights to the judiciary, police, senior members of the legal profession, the magistracy, civil servants, and to groups of parliamentarians and officials from many countries. His policy-related work has included giving legal and parliamentary advice to national campaigning bodies in the UK, commenting on draft legislation for official bodies in several countries and appearing before parliamentary committees and commissions of inquiry in Canada, the Russian Federation and the Ukraine. His recent report Making Intelligence Accountable (with Dr Hans Born, published by the Norwegian Parliament Printing House 2005) has been translated into 7 languages.
He is also a member of the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs’ Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace for Newcastle upon Tyne, a trustee of the International Governance Institute, a member of the Research Council of the Centre for Cultural Renewal (Canada), and of the Legal-Political Assistance Group of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.
His current research includes a book on remedies under the Human Rights Act 1998 (with Roger Masterman) and a Handbook on the Human Rights of Members of the Armed Forces for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (with Hans Born). He is a member of the Venice Commission working group preparing a report on democratic supervision of national security in Council of Europe member states.
Teaching Areas
Administrative Law
Constitutional Law
Domestic implementation of Human Rights
Research Interests
- Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998
- Local government law and politics
- National security law
- Religious Liberty
Selected Publications
Books: authored
- Leigh, I.D. & Born, Hans. 2008. Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (Additional information) (View publication online)
- Leigh, I.D. & Masterman, RMW. 2008. Making Rights Real: the Human Rights Act in its First Decade. Hart Publishing. (Additional information)
- Ahdar, R. & Leigh, I. D. 2005. Religious Freedom in the Liberal State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Additional information) (View publication online)
- Born, H., Johnson, L. & Leigh, I. D. 2005. Who's Watching the Spies? Establishing Intelligence Service Accountability. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Edited works: contributions
- Leigh, I. 2009. ‘Homophobic Speech, Equality Denial and Religious Expression’. In Extreme Speech and Democracy. Hare, I. & Weinstein, J. Oxford University Press.
- Leigh, Ian. 2008. ‘National Security, Religious Liberty and Counter-Terrorism’. In Intelligence, Security and Policing Post 9/11: The UK Response to the War on Terror. Moran, J. & Phythian, M. Palgrave. (Additional information)
- H. Born; & I. Leigh 2007. ‘Democratic Accountability of Intelligence Services’. In Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, Yearbook of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute 2007. Oxford University Press. (Additional information)
- Leigh, I. 2007. ‘Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence in the UK: A Critical Evaluation’. In Democratic Control of Intelligence Services: Containing Rogue Elephants. Born, H. & Caparini, M. Ashgate. 177-194. (Additional information)
Journal papers: academic
- Leigh, Ian. 2008. Hatred, Sexual Orientation, Free Speech and Religious Liberty. Ecclesiastical Law Journal 337-344. (Additional information) (View publication online)
- Leigh, I.D., Jowell, J. & Oliver, D. 2007. Local Government. The Changing Constitution 6.
- Leigh, I.D. & Johnson, L. 2006. (with H. Born) A Comparative Perspective on Accountability. Strategic Intelligence 5.
- Leigh, I.D., Cane, P. & Conaghan, J. 2006. Entries on National Security, Interception of Communications, Surveillance, surreptitious, Official Secrets. New Oxford Companion to Law
- Leigh, I.D., Goldschmidt, J. & Loenen, T. 2006. Religously-Motivated Disciminatory Speech: the Case of Homophobia. Religious Pluralism
- Leigh, I. D. 2002. Taking Rights Proportionately: Judicial Review, the Human Rights Act and Strasbourg. Public Law 265-287. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Reports: official
- Born, H. & Leigh, I. D. (2005). Making Intelligence Accountable: Legal Standards and Best Practice for Oversight of Intelligence Agencies. Oslo, (Additional information) (View publication online)