Tag Archives: Constitutional Theory
Colin Harvey: Engaging With Human Rights in a Disunited Kingdom
The world is saturated with the normative discourse of rights. Rights-talk is to be found almost everywhere; in sugary political speeches, in legal texts, and in the pleas of those experiencing abuse and those advocating on their behalf. Complex societies … Continue reading
Filed under Constitutional reform, Human rights
Arthur Dyevre: The Czech Ultra Vires Revolution: Isolated Accident or Omen of Judicial Armageddon?
On the face of things, the CCC’s judgment, by declaring an EU act, namely a ruling of the Court of Justice, ultra vires, constitutes a momentous and unprecedented display of judicial defiance. To my knowledge, no domestic court has ever … Continue reading
Filed under Comparative law, European Union
Stuart Lakin: What Role Should Judges Play in the Constitution Justice Sumption?
In his recent F.A. Mann lecture Jonathan Sumption Q.C., the newly appointed member of the Supreme Court, took up the question of the proper role of judges vis-a-vis the political branches of government in the UK. Tom Adams has already … Continue reading
Filed under Judicial review, Judiciary
Peter C. Oliver: Constitutional Conventions in the Canadian Courts
Most constitutional law textbooks across the Commonwealth include in the section on constitutional conventions lengthy extracts from the Canadian case, Re Amendment of the Constitution of Canada, often referred to as the Patriation Reference. Given that constitutional conventions are enforced … Continue reading
Filed under Comparative law, Constitutional reform
Dawn Oliver: Review of H. Gommer, A Biological Theory of Law: Natural Law Theory Revisited (2011, Create Space/Amazon, Seattle, 179pp)
Given the growth of work in psychological explanations of law in many fields, a book by a Dutch scholar, Hendrik Gommer, A Biological Theory of Law: Natural Law Theory Revisited is of particular interest. Gommer’s thesis is based on the … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Stuart Lakin: I’m Afraid That There’s Just No Escaping it: Public lawyers Must Also Be Legal And Political Theorists.
Many of the public lawyers who visit this blog will have been fed on a very strict diet during their public law studies. For some, just about every meal will have consisted of Dicey’s theory of Parliamentary sovereignty and the … Continue reading
Filed under Judiciary, UK Parliament