Eric Heinze is Professor of Law and Humanities at Queen Mary University of London, where he directs the Centre for Law, Democracy and Society (CLDS). After completing degrees in the University of Paris, Eric Heinze earned law degrees from Harvard Law School (JD 1991) and the University of Leiden (PhD 1994).

In April 2025 Heinze’s next book, to be published by The MIT Press, will be Coming Clean: The Rise of Critical Theory and the Future of the Left. His prior books include The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech Is Everything (The MIT Press, 2022), Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2016), The Concept of Injustice (Routledge, 2013), The Logic of Constitutional Rights (Routledge, 2005), The Logic of Liberal Rights (Routledge, 2003); The Logic of Equality (Routledge, 2003), and Sexual Orientation: A Human Right (Nijhoff, 1995).

Heinze currently serves as General Editor for major collections including The Oxford Handbook of Hate Speech (Oxford University Press, 2025) and The Criminalisation of Hate Speech (Springer, 2024). He also serves on the Advisory Boards of The International Journal of Human Rights (2008 – present), University of Bologna Law Review (2018 – present), Heliopolis: Culture Civiltà Politica (2020 – present), Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica (journal of the Italian Society of Political Philosophy, 2021 – present); Social Theory and Practice (2022 – present), Law – Human – Environment (2024 – present), Routledge Studies in Law, Rights and Justice (2023 – present).

Heinze has published more than 100 articles, including more than 50 major scholarly contributions to such journals as Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, International Theory, Harvard Human Rights Journal, Modern Law Review, Ratio Juris, Journal of Comparative Law, Legal Studies, Constitutional Commentary, Law & Literature, Law & Humanities, International Journal of Law in Context, Michigan Journal of International Law, International Journal of Human Rights, National Black Law Journal, Journal of Social & Legal Studies, Law & Critique, and The Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, alongside numerous edited book collections.

Heinze has regularly researched and lectured in English, French, German, and Dutch. His books have spanned multiple jurisdictions and been translated into several languages. He has been interviewed for the BBC, Times Radio, LBC Radio, The New Republic, Times Higher Education, TRT World Television, GB News, Folha de S. Paolo, The Globe and Mail, Aftenposten, Berlingske, NOS Radio, TBS eFM Radio, OZY, Belsat, Quartz, Indus News Lahore, Marketplace Tech, BamRadio, Al Jazeera, Oxford Human Rights Hub, DeSmog-UK, The Algemeiner, and ClimateWire.

Heinze has participated in major projects relevant to public law and state power. In 2022 he served as General Rapporteur on the Criminalisation of Hate Speech for the International Academy of Comparative Law, and from 2016 – 2019 served as Project Leader for the 4 nation, 10 member consortium Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspective (€1,177,091, European Commission – HERA). He currently serves as advisor to France-Canada Working Group on contemporary problems of free expression, and from 2024-2026 will supervise Dr. Matthew Bolton in his post-graduate project entitled ‘British-Jewish identity, and affinity to Israel in British equality law’ (€275,172.20, European Commission, Marie Skłodowska-Curie).

Heinze’s previous experience in directing externally funded research dates back to a 1999 UK Nuffield Foundation grant on the legal regulation of children’s sexuality. Heinze directed a team of five junior researchers and organised a major conference, which lead to the publication of the edited collection, Of Innocence and Autonomy: Children, Sex and Human Rights (Routledge 2000). Heinze has also held full-year fellowships from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD, 1986-87), the US Fulbright Foundation (1991-92), the French Ministère de l’Éducation nationale (Chateaubriand, 1992-93), and has won three Harvard University summer fellowships for research on human rights (Ferguson, 1989; Andres 1990; Sheldon, 1992), and a University of Iowa Obermann summer fellowship for research on human rights in European law (1995).

As a Trustee of the Media Diversity Institute (MDI), a media training organisation with operations in several cities including London, Brussels, Washington DC, and Belgrade, Heinze continues his many years of involvement with major civil society NGOs. Over many years Heinze has collaborated with MDI through discrimination awareness programs and participation in conferences examining freedoms of dissent and strategies for countering hate speech. Heinze’s professional background also includes experience at the International Commission of Jurists (Geneva, 1989) and litigation for the UN Administrative Tribunal (New York, 1994), as well as independent advice for Amnesty International (London) and Liberty (London).

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