Staff profile

Roger Masterman is Professor of Constitutional Law at Durham Law School and - with Aileen McHarg - Joint General Editor of the journal Public Law (@PL_PublicLaw).

His teaching and research interests lie in constitutional law and reform, particularly in the Human Rights Act 1998 and in the relevance of the separation of powers doctrine to the United Kingdom's constitution. He has a particular interest in the relationship between the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts, and is well-known for his work on the mechanics and application of s.2(1) of the Human Rights Act.

He is the author of The Separation of Powers in the Contemporary Constitution: Judicial competence and independence in the United Kingdom (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and (with Ian Leigh) Making Rights Real: The Human Rights Act in its First Decade (Hart Publishing, 2008). Alongside Robert Schütze he is editor of the Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law (Cambridge University Press, 2019). 

The third edition of his textbook Constitutional and Administrative Law - written with Colin Murray of Newcastle Law School - was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. Law-related tweets, and short updates to the latter, can be found by following @mastermanmurray

Roger is a graduate of King’s College London, and has worked previously at the Constitution Unit, University College London. He serves on the Executive Committee of the UK Constitutional Law Association and contributes to the UK Constitutional Law Association blog: http://ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog/. 

Teaching Areas

UK Constitutional Law

Comparative Constitutional Law

Advanced Issues in Public Law

• Comparative Constitutional Law
• UK Constitutional Law
• Constitutional Reform
• The Human Rights Act 1998
• The Judiciary

Authored book

• Masterman, R., & Murray, C. (2018). Constitutional and Administrative Law. (2nd ed.). Pearson
• Masterman, R., & Murray, C. (2013). Exploring Constitutional and Administrative Law. Pearson
• Masterman, R. (2010). The Separation of Powers in the Contemporary Constitution: Judicial Competence and Independence in the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press
• Leigh, I., & Masterman, R. (2008). Making Rights Real: the Human Rights Act in its First Decade. Hart Publishing

Book review

• Masterman, R. (online). Review of N Burrows, Devolution. Public Law, 588-590
• Masterman, R. (online). Review of Tom Hickman, Public Law after the Human Rights Act (Hart, 2010). Public Law, 651-655
• Masterman, R. (2009). Review of Lieve Gies, Law and the Media: The Future of an uneasy relationship (2007) and K. J. Bybee (ed), Bench Press: The collision of courts, politics and the media (2007). Social and Legal Studies, 18(2), 275-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639090180021005
• Masterman, R. (2004). Review: Human Rights Act Toolkit by Jenny Watson and Mitchell Woolf, 2003. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 17(4), https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550410539848
• Masterman, R. (2002). Review of M Barrett, The Law Lords: An Account of the Workings of Britain's Highest Judicial Body and the Men who Preside over it. Political Studies, 50(1), 169-169. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00365
• Masterman, R. (2001). Book review of 'Constitutional interpretation : textual meaning, original intent and judicial review' by K.E. Whittington, Lawrence KS : University Press of Kansas, 1999. Book review of 'Constitutional construction : divided powers and constitutional meaning' by K.E. Whittington, Cambridge MA : Harvard University Press, 1999. Political Studies, 49(1), 119-120. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00308

Chapter in book

• Masterman, R. (2022). New Labour's Judicial Power Project. In M. Gordon, & A. Tucker (Eds.), The New Labour constitution : twenty years on. Bloomsbury
• Masterman, R. (2019). Multi-Layered Constitutions. In R. Masterman, & R. Schütze (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to comparative constitutional law (47-497). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316716731.019
• Masterman, R. (2018). Federal Dynamics of the UK/Strasbourg Relationship. In R. Schütze, & S. Tierney (Eds.), United Kingdom and the federal idea (203-226). Hart Publishing
• Masterman, R., & Wheatle, S.-S. (2018). Unity, Disunity and Vacuity: Constitutional Adjudication and the Common Law. In M. Elliott, J. Varuhas, & S. Wilson Stark (Eds.), The unity of public law : doctrinal, theoretical, and comparative perspectives (123-148). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509915217.ch-006
• Masterman, R. (2017). Process and Substance in the United Kingdom and at Strasbourg: Proportionality, Subsidiarity, Complementarity?. In J. Gerards, & E. Brems (Eds.), Procedural review in European fundamental rights cases (242-271). Cambridge University Press
• Masterman, R. (2016). The United Kingdom: From Strasbourg Surrogacy towards a British Bill of Rights?. In S. Lambrecht, K. Lemmens, & P. Popelier (Eds.), Criticism of the European Court of Human Rights : shifting the convention system : counter-dynamics at the national and EU level (447-478). Intersentia
• Masterman, R. (2014). Rebalancing the Unbalanced Constitution: Juridification and National Security in the United Kingdom. In F. Davis, & F. de Londras (Eds.), Critical debates on counter-terrorist judicial review (209-227). Cambridge University Press
• Masterman, R. (2014). The United Kingdom. In J. Gerards, & J. Fleuren (Eds.), Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and of the judgments of the ECtHR in national case law : a comparative analysis (297-332). Intersentia
• Masterman, R., & Leigh, I. (2013). The United Kingdom's Human Rights Project in Constitutional and Comparative Perspective. In R. Masterman, & I. Leigh (Eds.), The United Kingdom's statutory Bill of Rights : constitutional and comparative perspectives (1-22). Oxford University Press
• Masterman, R. (2013). Deconstructing the Mirror Principle. In R. Masterman, & I. Leigh (Eds.), The United Kingdom's statutory Bill of Rights : constitutional and comparative perspectives (111-137). Oxford University Press
• Masterman, R. (2007). Aspiration or Foundation? The Status of the Strasbourg Jurisprudence and the 'Convention Rights' in Domestic Law. In H. Fenwick, R. Masterman, & G. Phillipson (Eds.), Judicial reasoning under the UK Human Rights Act (57-86). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511493775.006
• Fenwick, H., Masterman, R., & Phillipson, G. (2007). Introduction: The Human Rights Act in contemporary context. In H. Fenwick, G. Phillipson, & R. Masterman (Eds.), Judicial reasoning under the UK Human Rights Act (1-21). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511493775.004
• Masterman, R., & Mitchell, J. (2001). Devolution and the Centre. In A. Trench (Ed.), The state of the nations 2001 : the second year of devolution in the United Kingdom (175-196). Imprint Academic
• Masterman, R., & Hazell, R. (2001). Devolution and Westminster. In A. Trench (Ed.), The state of the nations 2001 : the second year of devolution in the United Kingdom (197-224). Imprint Academic

Conference Paper

• Masterman, R. (2016, December). Breaking the Link with Strasbourg? From the Human Rights Act towards a British Bill of Rights
• Masterman, R. (2012, December). What judges talk about when they talk about separation of powers. Presented at Beyond Montesquieu: Rethinking the architecture of contemporary governance, Dublin, Ireland
• Masterman, R. (2010, September). The Form and Substance of the United Kingdom's Separation of Powers. Presented at The UK and US in 2010: transition and transformation., George Washington University, Washington DC
• Masterman, R. (2010, September). Escaping the Mirror Principle: Towards a municipal law of human rights?. Presented at Symposium to mark the tenth anniversary of the Human Rights Act., St John's College, Durham University
• Masterman, R. (2023, June). Dynamics of a contemporary separation of powers. Presented at Comparative perspectives on constitutions : theory and practice., Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

Edited book

• Masterman, R., & Schütze, R. (Eds.). (2019). The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press
• Masterman, R., & Leigh, I. (Eds.). (2013). The United Kingdom's Statutory Bill of Rights: Constitutional and Comparative Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press/Proceedings of the British Academy
• Fenwick, H., Phillipson, G., & Masterman, R. (Eds.). (2007). Judicial Reasoning under the UK Human Rights Act. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511493775

Journal Article

• Masterman, R. (online). Determinative in the Abstract? Article 6(1) and the Separation of Powers. European Human Rights Law Review, 628-648
• Masterman, R. (online). Interpretations, declarations and dialogue: rights protection under the Human Rights Act and Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. Public Law, 112-131
• Aidinlis, S. (2023). Beyond Freedom of Information Legislation: Navigating Access to Government Data for Independent Research in the UK. Public Law,
• Masterman, R. (2023). The United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act as a Catalyst of Constitutional Migration: Patterns and Limitations of Rights Importation by Design. European Constitutional Law Review, 19(1), 88-110. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1574019623000019
• Masterman, R. (2022). Brexit and the United Kingdom’s Devolutionary Constitution. Global Policy, 13(52), 58-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13064
• Masterman, R. (2020). The Constitutional Influence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the UK’s Apex Court: Institutional Proximity and Jurisprudential Divergence?. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 71(2), 285-302
• Fenwick, H., & Masterman, R. (2017). The Conservative Project to ‘Break the Link between British Courts and Strasbourg’: Rhetoric or Reality?. Modern Law Review, 80(6), 1111-1136. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12304
• Masterman, R., & Wheatle, S.-S. (2017). Unpacking separation of powers: judicial independence, sovereignty and conceptual flexibility in the UK constitution. Public Law, 2017(Jul), 469-487
• Masterman, R., & Wheatle, S.-S. (2015). A Common Law Resurgence in Rights Protection?. European Human Rights Law Review, 2015(1), 57-65
• Masterman, R., & Murkens, J. (2013). Skirting supremacy and subordination: the constitutional authority of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. Public Law, 2013(4), 800-820
• Masterman, R., & Murkens, J. (2012). Zwischen Vorrangstellung und Ergebenheit: Der Verfassungsstatus des Supreme Court im Vereinigten Königreich
• Masterman, R. (2009). Juridification, sovereignty and separation of powers. Parliamentary Affairs, 62(3), 499-502. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsp014
• Masterman, R. (2009). Labour’s ‘Juridification’ of the Constitution. Parliamentary Affairs, 62(3), 476-492. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsp013
• Masterman, R. (2005). Taking the Strasbourg Jurisprudence into Account: developing a “municipal law of human rights” under the Human Rights Act 1998. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 54(4), 907-931. https://doi.org/10.1093/iclq/lei042
• Masterman, R. (2004). Section 2(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998: Binding Domestic Courts to Strasbourg?. Public Law, 12, 725-737
• Masterman, R. (2004). A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom : Two Steps Forward, but one Step Back on Judicial Independence. Public Law, 4, 48-58
• Masterman, R., Hazell, R., Gay, A., Trench, S., King, M., Sandford, R., & Maer, L. (2003). The Constitution: Consolidation and Cautious Advance. Parliamentary Affairs, 56(2), 157-169. https://doi.org/10.1093/parlij/gsg011
• Masterman, R., Hazell, R., Sandford, M., Seyd, B., & Croft, J. (2002). The Constitution: Coming in from the Cold. Parliamentary Affairs, 55(2), 219-234. https://doi.org/10.1093/parlij/55.2.219
• Masterman, R., Hazell, R., Russell, M., Croft, J., & Seyd, B. (2001). The Constitution: Rolling out the New Settlement. Parliamentary Affairs, 54(2), 190-205. https://doi.org/10.1093/parlij/54.2.190

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Wheatle, S.-S., & Masterman, R. (2022). The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Is the Monarch an apolitical longstop?. [https://constitutionallawmatters.wordpress.com/2022/07/05/the-queens-platinum-jubilee-is-the-monarch-an-apolitical-longstop/]

Report

• Masterman, R. (2015). Supreme, submissive or symbiotic? United Kingdom Courts and the European Court of Human Rights. [No known commissioning body]