Legislated Rights, by Paul Yowell, et al.

In Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation, an eminent international team of legal scholars have collaborated to make the argument implied by the book's subtitle: that legislatures, not judicial bodies, have "a special role and responsibility . . . in securing human rights in positive law."  By examining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other similar documents, the authors demonstrate that while the courts play a role in interpreting rights, the legislature has a primary role in establishing human rights in society.

In the American context, for instance, much is made of Supreme Court decisions during the Civil Rights movement.  However, the legislation passed during this period of time had a greater impact on actual changes in racial equality.  (Arguably, the courts perpetuated racial inequality and segregation.)  The Civil Rights era in the US demonstrated that "human rights are most effectively9 secured not by looking to courts to be their guardians, but by the painstaking, everyday work of legislatures seeking to craft laws to promote and protect the full range of rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration."

Judicial review has a rather revered status as the arbiter of human rights.  While not rejecting the importance of judicial review out of hand, the authors of Legislated Rights present a solid argument for legislatures to promote and protect human rights.