The UKCLA Blog
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Hal McNulty: Forgetting Our Democratic Settlement: Lammy’s Plan to Curb Jury Trials
“I honestly think if I hadn’t had those normal people to basically say, ‘You gotta be joking, no way did this guy do anything wrong’, I’d be finished” (recent defendant Jamie Michael, commenting on his jury acquittal). The Justice Secretary’s proposal to restrict the use of jury trials has been met with furious opposition from all sides. So far,…
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Paul O’Connell: Anticipatory Repression and the Proscription of Palestine Action
The proscription of Palestine Action in July 2025 represents more than an aggressive application of counter-terrorism law. It reveals a broader, qualitative shift in the British state’s approach to political dissent—one best understood, I argue, through the concept of ‘anticipatory repression’. Proscription and Its Critics Palestine Action is a direct action network that has, since…
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UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table – 14th January 2026
UCL, January 14th 2026 UKCLA Annual General Meeting This is a reminder that the UKCLA Annual General Meeting will be held in person at 12.15 pm on Wednesday 14th of January 2026 in the Keeton Room, Bentham House, University College London, 4-8 Endsleigh Gardens, London, WC1H OEG. The AGM is open to all paid up…
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Chris Rowe: Human rights as ceiling: the government’s asylum reform proposals
When the government announces a ‘crackdown’ or some new tough policy on immigration or asylum, it is important to recognise that what this means (at most) is that migrants will be treated in accordance with the new policy unless their Convention rights require that they are treated otherwise; at most, since often when the policy…
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Anurag Deb, Colin Murray and Gabriel Tan: Legacy Issues: In re Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [2025] UKSC 47
Introduction It is a rare case where the UK Government initiates a judicial review against an independent public body. The Thompson case is just such a case. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland intervened in an inquest process to attempt to prevent information about the murder of Liam Paul Thompson by the UDA in…
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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…
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UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table
UCL, January 14th 2026 UKCLA Annual General Meeting The UKCLA Annual General Meeting will be held in person at 12.15 pm on Wednesday 14th of January 2026 in the Keeton Room, Bentham House, University College London, 4-8 Endsleigh Gardens, London, WC1H OEG. The AGM is open to all paid up members of the UKCLA. All…
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Christmas Break
The UKCLA blog will be on its annual break over the Christmas period – the blog will be closed from Thursday 18th December 2025 and will re-open on Monday 5th January 2026. Any final posts for this year need to be submitted for consideration by Tuesday 16th December for us to have the possibility of publishing…
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Catriona Mullay: A Fresh Start, the Old Tradition: Sovereignty and the Scottish Constitutional Imaginary
Recently, the Scottish Government published A Fresh Start with Independence, restating the case for autonomy and outlining aspects of the prospective Scottish state. Despite the narrative of renewal, however, the sections on the Scottish constitution are firmly in the vein of what has been seen before. This blog post explores some of the issues raised…
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Marianne Holbrook: Should Decisions of the Attorney General be Judicially Reviewable?
In July 2025, the Divisional Court in R (Campbell) v Attorney General [2025] EWHC 1653 (Admin), held that “there is a category of functions of the Attorney General which are immune from review on any ground”. In November, the Supreme Court granted Mr Campbell direct leave to appeal. In the meantime, the Law Commission of…