Category: Constitutional Law
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Dane Luo: The Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill 2026 and Constitutional Advice to the Sovereign
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that, while he is no longer a regular Mass-goer, he still professes the Catholic faith. His religious beliefs triggered the operation of s 18 of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which makes it unlawful for any person professing the Roman Catholic religion ‘directly or indirectly to advise [His]…
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Joanna Bell & Hayley J Hooper: Not in my (Constitutional) Backyard: How Not to Speed Up Planning Challenges
Important issues of UK constitutional law can arise in the most unusual of places. Some of the most important cases on undergraduate reading lists, for example, concerned disputes about fishing licences and whether goods could be measured in imperial, rather than metric, units. In this blog we draw attention to a proposal which, if enacted, would be of…
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Francesca Jackson: Jamaica’s petition to King Charles on slavery reparations under s.4 Judicial Committee Act 1833: A constitutional analysis
On Monday 7th September 2026, Jamaica filed a petition with King Charles asking him to refer three specific questions on transatlantic slavery to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (‘JCPC’) under s.4 of the Judicial Committee Act 1833 (‘JCA’). The questions focus on whether enslavement in Jamaica was ever lawful and whether there is an obligation on…
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Robert Craig: Uncomfortable, But Not Unconstitutional – The Transition to a New Prime Minister
Despite Keir Starmer’s landslide majority just two years ago, the former Prime Minister announced his resignation from the premiership on 20 July. The departure of yet another prime minister, in short order, follows a series of political misjudgements that saw his support in both parliament and country drain away. The only candidate to replace Mr…
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Dimitrios Kivotidis: Economic Analysis of the British Constitution: Preliminary Thoughts
This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. Whether one subscribes to the notion of the ‘ancient constitution’ or not, it is not the most controversial claim to make that the British constitution is one of the most resilient in the world, originating…
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Adam Tomkins: Money and the Making of the British Constitution
This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. When constitutional lawyers recall the Revolution of 1688 we tend to be better at remembering why Parliament wanted William III to replace James II than why William was so eager to ascend…
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Antoinette Nestor: “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”: Real-World Consequences and Environmental Assessment after Finch
Environmental Impact Assessments in the UK increasingly resemble We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. In Michael Rosen’s story, every obstacle presents the same catch phrase: “We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it!” The Supreme Court’s judgment in Finch insists on the same approach. It makes clear that public authorities cannot…
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Adam Tomkins: On ABJ: Proscribed Organisations, Proportionality, and Freedom of Speech
In R v ABJ [2026] UKSC 8 a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the offence of expressing support for a proscribed organisation, as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, is not a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court’s verdict was no surprise: the…
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Francesca Jackson: King Charles, President Trump and the State Visit: Some Constitutional Considerations
Buckingham Palace has finally announced that the King and Queen’s planned visit to the US will indeed go ahead at the end of April 2026. After US President Donald Trump launched a string of verbal attacks on the UK Prime Minister, there had been growing calls for Keir Starmer to cancel the King’s visit, which…
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Call for Papers: SLSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SOCIO-LEGAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION (SLSA) ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2026 30 Mar 2026– 01 Apr 2026 University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK STREAM: CONSTITUTIONALISM IN DEVELOPING DEMOCRACIES CALL FOR PAPERS Stable constitutionalism is generally regarded as one of the characteristics associated with advanced democracies. However, emerging research in comparative law and courts suggests that a significant…