Leah Trueblood: More Good Days for Democracy: The Report of the Independent Commission on Referendums
At the beginning of Democracy in America, de Tocqueville writes that in studying democracy its “…Faults strike one at first approach, but its qualities are only discovered at length.” The … Continue reading
Leah Trueblood: The Merits and Meaning of a ‘Second’ Referendum
Introduction: Multiple votes, one referendum Even before the vote on 23 June 2016, questions were raised about the possibility of a ‘second’ referendum. I place the term ‘second’ in inverted … Continue reading
Mike Gordon and Adam Tucker: Twenty Years On: Assessing the State and Legacy of New Labour’s Constitution
In such frenzied constitutional times – with only a general election resulting in a hung Parliament and a minority government and the start of Brexit negotiations to have kept public … Continue reading
Robert Craig: Zombie Prerogatives Should Remain Decently Buried: Replacing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Part 2)
Editors’ note: This is the second of a two-part contribution. The first part may be found here. Part 2: What should replace the FTPA? A previous post argued that a … Continue reading
Robert Craig: Zombie Prerogatives Should Remain Decently Buried: Replacing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Part 1)
Editors’ note: This is the first part of a two-part contribution. The second part will be posted tomorrow. Part 1: Would the prerogative be revived? I In the light of … Continue reading
Lea Raible and Leah Trueblood: The Swiss System of Referendums and the Impossibility of Direct Democracy
The referendums in the United Kingdom of 2011, 2014, and 2016 have sparked a debate about the merits of direct democracy. In this debate references to the system of referendums … Continue reading
Graham John Wheeler: Referendums That Time Forgot
It is well known that the first national referendum in the UK was the 1975 poll on EEC membership. It is also quite well known that A.V. Dicey called for … Continue reading
Marco Goldoni: Constitutional Referendums as Vectors of Regime-building: Observations from the Italian Case
It is referendums’ season. After Brexit and the Hungarian referendum on the European migrants’ resettlement plans (the so called ‘quota referendum’), an important constitutional plebiscite will take place in Italy … Continue reading
Piet Eeckhout: The UK Decision to Withdraw from the EU: Parliament or Government?
The litigation concerning the triggering of Art 50 TEU is under way, with hearings this past week and early next. It is the constitutional case of the century. The Government’s … Continue reading
Robert Craig: Report of Proceedings: Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
Introduction Thursday 13 October 2016 marked the beginning of the hearing over the constitutional question of whether Article 50 may be triggered by the Government without further statutory authorisation. This … Continue reading
