The UKCLA Blog
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Events: Guest Lecture
LIMITED PRECEDENT SYSTEM AND THE IMPACT OF COMMON LAW ON ADJUDICATION: EVIDENCE FROM CURIA OF HUNGARY The Global South Network (GSN) invites you to the online guest lecture titled “Limited Precedent System and the Impact of Common Law on Adjudication: Evidence from the Curia of Hungary” to be delivered by the Chief Justice/President of Curia (Supreme…
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Richard Martin: Counting Cumulative Impact: More Public Order Law Additions
Following the horrific antisemitic attack at a Manchester synagogue in October, the government has announced plans to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The proposed changes would explicitly allow police to consider the cumulative impact of frequent protests when imposing conditions on public processions and assemblies. This announcement carries a…
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Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers
The Attorney General is one of the most powerful and influential officers in the British Constitution. They are the chief adviser of the Crown on points of law and the chief counsel for the government in legal proceedings. They also have an important role in the machinery of criminal law enforcement in England & Wales and a wide…
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Event: ECHR and Venice Commission Conference
ECHR and Venice Commission: Guarding Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and Facilitating Constitutional Resilience, 6-7 November 2025 Katja Ziegler, Ed Bates, Amal Sethi (CELI) and Julinda Beqiraj (Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law) look forward to welcoming you on the 6th and 7th of November at BIICL (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) for…
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Dane Luo: The Anomalous Islands of Public Interest Functions Immune from Judicial Review
The Attorney-General is an ancient office that is endowed with a very wide range of discretionary powers and functions. Some of those are classed as ‘public interest functions’. These derive from statutes and the prerogative, and include granting consent for certain prosecutions, applying for orders preventing vexatious litigants from bringing proceedings, entering a nolle prosequi,…
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Brice Dickson: The meaning of ‘civil rights’ in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
From 14 to 16 October 2025 the UK Supreme Court is due to hear an important case on the extent to which the Windsor Framework – the new name for the revised Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol to the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement of 2020 – protects ‘civil rights’ in Northern Ireland. In Dillon’s and Others’ Application, an appeal by the…
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Conor Crummey: The Principle of Legality, the Definition of ‘Terrorism’, and Palestine Action
Two judgments have so far been handed down in the matter of R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; the challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000 (‘the 2000 Act’). The first was on the matter of interim relief, which…
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Alan Greene: Bringing facts to a vibes fight: Kayfabe and debates on the UK and the ECHR
It is now 25 years since the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) entered into force and far from this endurance cementing its legitimacy, the judicial protection of human rights in the UK finds itself in the perennial political spotlight. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is also never far from the headlines, not least…
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Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 16 September 2025. It gives effect to the Labour Party’s 2024 Manifesto commitment to introduce a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will ‘place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths’. As the Government’s ‘Duty of…
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Events: Call for Papers – The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom
Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 May 2026, University of Manchester, United Kingdom The public law team at the University of Manchester Law Department, in collaboration with the UK Constitutional Law Association (UKCLA), is pleased to invite submissions for a two-day conference on the topic of “The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom” scheduled…