Category: European Union
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Ben Yong, Diana Wallis, Murray Hunt, Greg Davies and Cristina Leston-Bandeira: Lawyering for Legislatures: The Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges of Parliamentary Lawyers
Legislatures are confronted with highly complex issues which require legal advice. Much of this work is done by parliamentary lawyers—in-house lawyers who support the legislature in scrutinising legislation and executive action. Parliamentary lawyers should be distinguished from lawyer-politicians; the private staff of parliamentarians who are legally qualified, but who serve in a partisan capacity; and…
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Robert Craig: New Article 50 Case Resoundingly Rejected by the Divisional Court
In the film ‘Gladiator’ an epic and brutal battle scene at the beginning is followed by the Emperor’s pampered and rich son arriving the next day in a coach. He jumps out brandishing his sword and shouting “where is the battle” in front of the weary troops. Readers will remember that the original legal battle…
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Kenneth Campbell QC: Wightman v Secretary of State: Article 50 and Parliamentary Privilege
Introductory Litigation about Brexit continues to throw light on constitutional principles, both new and well-established. In the case of Wightman & others, petitioners [2018] CSOH 61, advised on 8 June 2018, the Court of Session was called upon to consider whether the UK’s Article 50 notification could be unilaterally revoked by the UK in good…
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Massimo Fichera: The Italian President and the Security of the European Project
In a previous post, I have argued that the recent decision of the Italian President of the Republic, Pierluigi Mattarella, to refuse to appoint as Finance Minister Paolo Savona, was constitutional. Soon after that initial post, other posts on this and other blogs have argued either in favour or against Mattarella’s decision, either from legal…
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Alison Young: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and the Meaningful Vote: Constititutional Inconsistency or Constitutional Inconvenience?
This post will focus on the constitutional issues arising from the debate on the ‘meaningful vote’. There have been various solutions proposed in legislative amendments by the House of Lords, the Government, and by MPs – so much so that it is almost impossible to keep track. The House of Lords originally imposed requirements for…
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Francis Young: Parliament and Taking Back Control: A Precedent from the Maastricht Debates
This post considers whether it is a convention of the British constitution that Parliament cannot direct the executive in the making of treaties. The context, of course, is the current tussle over whether the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill should be amended to allow the House of Commons a “meaningful vote” on the outcome of the…
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Jack Simson Caird: Parliament’s Right to a ‘Meaningful Vote’: Amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill
On Tuesday 12 June 2018, the Government will ask the House of Commons to reject the Lords’ meaningful vote amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill (Lords Amendment 19). If the amendment is rejected, the Government will ask the Commons to accept its own alternative version, known as an ‘amendment in lieu’. If either amendment is…
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Weekly round-up of events
This week’s announcements are below. ~~~ WG Hart Workshop 2018: Building a 21st Century Bill of Rights Date: Monday 11 June – Tuesday 12 June 2018 Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Russell Square, London Academic Directors Professor Merris Amos, Professor Roger Masterman and Dr Helene Tyrrell are pleased to announce that registration for the…
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Graziella Romeo: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The Italian Institutional Crisis and Europe
There is no shortage of stories on Italian institutional crises originated in the context of a parliamentary system with multi-party inclinations and a misfit electoral law. And Italy is not even an isolated case of hard processes of formation of government after troubled elections: the cases of the Netherlands and Belgium may be easily recalled.…
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Francis Young: “Packing” the Lords: Some Legal Reflections
The recent string of Government defeats in the House of Lords over amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill has reignited the debate over the role of the Lords in a modern democracy. The Daily Mail published a characteristically trenchant headline suggesting that we should “pull the plug” on the “traitors in ermine”. The abolition of…