Category: Comparative law
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Robert Hazell and Bob Morris: How has Monarchy survived in the era of Modern Democracy? Part Two
If these European monarchs have no real power, what is the modern monarchy for? Part 1 of this Blog described how no European monarch now has any real political power: they have no choice but to follow the advice of their governments. So the question arises, if they have no real political power, what…
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Robert Hazell and Bob Morris: How has Monarchy survived in the era of Modern Democracy? Part One
Introduction This month sees the publication of our book The Role of Monarchy in Modern Democracy: European Monarchies Compared, published by Hart. This two part Blog reflects on some of its main conclusions. Our comparative study looked at seven other constitutional monarchies in Europe, in addition to the UK. In 1900 every country in Europe…
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Alani Golanski: Why Corrupt Pardons Violate The Rule of Law
Jean-Jacques Rousseau opined in Émile that “[t]he universal spirit of the Laws of all countries is always to favour the strong against the weak, and the one who has against the one who has nothing.” This perspective casts law in a less than flattering light. Anatole France famously showed that the formal equalities provided by…
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Philip Lau: Hong Kong’s New National Security Legislation: The Devil in the Details
The Chinese Government has recently enacted a piece of National Security Law (‘the Law’) on Hong Kong, establishing crimes such as ‘secession’, ‘subversion’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘collusion with foreign country’, alongside with excessive powers for scrutiny of citizens to the police. The Law has raised concerns in the international community, with UK Supreme Court President Lord…
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Daniella Lock: The Third Direction Case Part Two: The Doctrine of Necessary Implication and Uncertainty in National Security Law
Part One of this post presented the background to the ‘Third Direction’ case, which concerns a recently disclosed Government policy to authorise agents of the Security Service (MI5) to participate in criminal conduct, and will will soon be heard in the Court of Appeal. Part One argued that from its the outset the case illustrates…
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Hanna Wilberg: Lockdowns, the principle of legality, and reasonable limits on liberty.
In responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have imposed unprecedented “lockdowns”. They decided, on the advice of public health officials and experts, that this was necessary in order to at least “flatten the curve” of escalating numbers of infections and thus prevent health systems being overwhelmed. This has left many governments scrambling…
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Julian R Murphy: The Palace Letters Case: Constitutional Conventions and the Confidentiality of Royal Correspondence in the Commonwealth Realms
A century ago, Dicey distinguished between laws and conventions of the constitution on the basis that the latter were ‘not enforced or recognised by the courts’. Today, only the first aspect of Dicey’s observation remains true; while courts generally do not enforce constitutional conventions they are increasingly called upon to recognise conventions for particular purposes.…
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Christopher McCrudden: Democracy, protests, and Covid-19: the challenge of (and for) human rights
Two excellent databases enable us to track the effect of Covid-19 on political protests and demonstrations. Both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project tell a similar story: that the effect of the virus has been mixed. Some protest movements that were active before the pandemic are…
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Lucien Carrier: The Problems with Institutional Reform in Fragmented Political Landscapes
Clearly, liberal democracy is at a crossroad. Many are dissatisfied with the state of political affairs in their national countries. The news is filled with stories of uprisings in Chile or Bolivia, riots in Hong Kong or Paris, or mass movements in Catalonia or England. People take up the streets for the cause they believe…
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Antonios Kouroutakis: How liberal is a democracy without a level playing field in the political process?
A couple of days ago, OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office after several years of investigation reported that Members of the European Parliament were ‘transferring part of their salaries to the national party coffers.’ Across the pond, Washington Post, a newspaper, reported that the President’s Name, ‘Trump’, would be printed in the memo section of the…