JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY VOLUME 32, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2005 ISSN: 0263-323X, pp. 68±89 Lost on the Way Home? The Right to Life in Northern Ireland Christine Bell* and Johanna Keenan* This article starts from the premise that, through the Belfast Agreement, the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) was invested with a `transitional justice' function in Northern Ireland, unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom. The article evaluates how far the HRA has met this challenge by examining a case study of the right to life. The European Court's development of a procedural aspect to the right to life in the form of a right to an effective investigation, has implicated both institutional reform for the future, and also a need to revisit past state killings with their `transitional justice' implications. There have been some positive developments, but, despite this, domestic institutions and courts have largely failed to deliver on Article 2's procedural aspect. The article concludes by questioning whether the very design of the HRA has limited the possibilities for a `transformational constitutionalism' capable of incorporating Article 2's procedural right. This article examines the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) in Northern Ireland, through a case study on the right to life. Any analysis of the HRA in Northern Ireland, must acknowledge a political context quite distinct from the rest of the United Kingdom. Three main reasons for the HRA were given by the Labour government in 1997: that accessing rights domestically would be speedier and cheaper; that it would enable British judges to make a distinct contribution to human rights jurisprudence; and 68 ß Cardiff University Law School 2005, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA * Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Londonderry/Derry BT48 7JL, Northern Ireland This article was in part based on interviews with Paul Mageean, Paul O'Connor, Hugh Orde, Karen Quinlivan, Eric Strain, Jane Winter, and Ritchie McRitchie, all of whom we would like to thank for their time and expertise. We would also like to thank Maggie Beirne, Kathleen Cavanaugh, Murray Hunt, Paul Mageean, Fionnuala Nõ Â Aola Âin, Maggie O'Conor, Ursula O'Hare, and Jane Winter, for commenting on earlier drafts. Mistakes which remain are our own.