John Olusegun (Senior Lecturer in Law Adenitire Senior Lecturer in Law Queen Mary University School of Law),Raffael (Assistant Professor in Public Law Fasel Assistant Professor in Public Law Universit
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The book argues that there is in the US, Canada and UK, a general right to conscientious exemption available to a person who objects to any legal obligation whatsoever on the basis of a religious or non-religious conscientious belief. The book provides a liberal defence of this right and argues that it should be considered a defining feature of a liberal democracy. A general right to conscientious exemption is a legal right to conscientiously object to any obligation imposed by law and to receive from a court an exemption from complying with such obligation. The general right defended in the book is not an absolute right. A court may refuse to grant an exemption if doing so would disproportionately impact the rights of others or the public interest. The book suggests how the general right should be balanced against important rights, such as non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The central focus of this edited collection is on the ever-growing practice in liberal states of claims to exemption from legal duties on the basis of a conscientious objection. Traditional claims hav
