Tag: Constitutional Statutes
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Robert Craig: Report of Proceedings: Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Supreme Court, Day 2
Introduction This post aims to summarise the highlights of the Supreme Court hearing on 6 December 2016. As mentioned yesterday, as with the reports on the High Court, this report will not be comprehensive. This is because those with the most interest in the case will have watched online or read the transcript. There is…
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Thomas Poole: Losing our Religion? Public Law and Brexit
Prerogative is the enemy of the people. This has been settled as matter of law for a very long time. The constitutional settlement of 1688 made a decision for responsible and representative government. We have had no constitutional moment of similar magnitude since. All constitutional changes – some very significant – have taken place within…
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Mark Elliott and Hayley J. Hooper: Critical reflections on the High Court’s judgment in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
The judgment of the High Court in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2016] EWHC 2768 (Admin), decided on 3 November 2016, has been subjected to astonishing and wholly misguided criticism by politicians and the press. Let us be clear, then, at the outset of this post that we entertain no…
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Gavin Creelman: The Relevance of Thoburn to the Article 50 “Trigger” Debate
In the weeks following the EU referendum result, a number of key constitutional questions have emerged. Central among these has been the issue of how the process of withdrawal from the EU provided by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (“TEU”) may be “triggered”. In particular, the debate has focussed on whether the…
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Jeff King: On the Proposal for a UK Constitutional Court
Of all the rushed ideas for major constitutional reform that could be adopted by the current Government, the one for a UK Constitutional Court (UKCC) as a solution to the perceived EU problem is by far the worst. The President of the Supreme Court Lord Neuberger told The Times last week that the idea is…
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HRA Watch: Reform, Repeal, Replace? Cormac Mac Amhlaigh: A Referendum on Repeal of the Human Rights Act? Why not?
Editors’ note: The blog is inviting constitutional lawyers to comment on the UK Government’s proposal to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act. We continue with a post by Dr Cormac Mac Amhlaigh, Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Edinburgh. You can read the other contributions in this series here. Posts on the topic are welcome.…
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Ann Sherlock: Supreme Court ruling on Welsh legislation.
On 9 July 2014, the Supreme Court delivered its unanimous ruling that the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Bill was within the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales. The Bill had been referred to the Supreme Court in August 2013 by the Attorney General for England and Wales under section 112(1) of the Government of…
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Mark Elliott: Reflections on the HS2 case: a hierarchy of domestic constitutional norms and the qualified primacy of EU law
Earlier this week, the UK Supreme Court gave judgment in R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport [2014] UKSC 3. A good overview of the issues at stake in the case can be found in the Court’s press summary, as well as in a post by David Hart on the UK…
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Adam Perry and Farrah Ahmed: Are Constitutional Statutes ‘Quasi-Entrenched’?
The Supreme Court issued its decision in H v Lord Advocate (pdf) in 2012. The decision has been virtually ignored by constitutional scholars, but we believe it may be of great constitutional significance. In this post we explain why, starting with some background about constitutional statutes. Commentators have lately considered how constitutional statutes should be…
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Scott Stephenson: The Constitutional Significance of Statutory Repeal: How Far Can Parliament Turn Back the Clock?
The current system for human rights protection in the UK is once again under siege. In the last week, statements were made indicating that the Conservative Party’s manifesto for the next election would include major reforms to current arrangements. Chris Grayling, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, declared that a future Conservative Government would repeal the…