Tag: Parliamentary sovereignty
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Philip Murray: Reconsidering Ouster Clauses: The High Court’s Decision in Oceana
To many, ouster clauses represent a conflict between, on the one hand, the will of a sovereign Parliament and, on the other, the rule of law’s demands that public bodies act within the limits of their powers. The common law has traditionally sought to interpret ouster clauses restrictively, employing reasoning articulated classically (but far from…
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John Stanton: Law, Localism, and the Constitution: A Comparative Perspective
Local government is an aspect of UK constitutional law that is often neglected or overlooked. Councils, though, are a vital part of our governmental order, providing the services and opportunities, and making the decisions and policies, that shape a large part of our day-to-day lives. They are also the institutions of government with which the…
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Adam Tucker: Entrenchment, Parliamentary Sovereignty, and the Limited Radicalism of the Brown Report
The publication of the Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future is attracting widespread attention. The centrepiece of its constitutional content is the replacement of the House of Lords with a new second chamber with new composition and a reformed role, which would have particular responsibility for territorial aspects of the constitution (discussed here) and act as guardian…
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Christian Magaard: Reconciling the Proactive Principle of Legality with Parliamentary Sovereignty
*Editors’ note: This post is part of a series on ‘The Human Rights Act After 22 Years’, following the SLS Annual Seminar held in November 2022. You can read the first post in the series here. Rising like an arguably rather dark phoenix from the ashes, the Bill of Rights Bill now appears back on the legislative agenda. Yet…
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Shona Wilson Stark: Section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998: Still Standing, or Standing Still?
*Editors’ note: this post is part of a series on ‘The Human Rights Act After 22 Years’, following the SLS Annual Seminar held in November 2022. You can read the first post in the series here.* In previous work, I have criticised the courts’ apparent confusion and/or uneasiness with the making of declarations of incompatibility under section 4 of…
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Michael Foran: Interpretation after the Human Rights Act? The Principle of Legality and the Rule of Law
Last week Liz Truss’s cabinet decided to shelve the proposed British Bill of Rights. Quite a lot has been said about the Bill since it was announced and many have welcomed the quiet demise of what was perceived by some to be a dangerous inroad into our human rights protection. Others have suggested that the…
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Stephen Tierney and Alison Young: Constitution Committee report on the Future Governance of the UK
Following a year-long inquiry into the future governance of the United Kingdom, the House of Lords Constitution Committee today publishes its report, Respect and Co-operation: Building a Stronger Union for the 21st century. The document comprises 10 chapters, beginning with reflections upon the state of the Union. It then turns to parliamentary sovereignty, relations between…
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Richard Clayton QC: The Government’s New Proposals for the Human Rights Act Part 3: An Assessment
This post completes my analysis of the Government’s Proposals for reform of the Human Rights Act 1998, following Part 1 (outlining the proposals) and Part 2 (analysing the interaction with the common law, the UK Supreme Court, and the intention to sharpen the focus on fundamental rights). This post considers three final themes of the…
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Richard Clayton QC: The Government’s New Proposals for the Human Rights Act Part 2: An Assessment
The Government explains its Proposals in its Human Rights Act Reform: A Modern Bill Of Rights: A consultation to reform the Human Rights Act 1998 (CP 588), which represent a radical departure from the HRA. The specific Proposals are developed in the context of broader themes: respecting our common law traditions and strengthening the role…
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Ronan Cormacain: Blue-eyed Babies, Amnesties, Sovereignty of Parliament and the Rule of Law: The Northern Ireland Legacy Proposals
Could Parliament pass a law that all blue-eyed babies be murdered? This was the hypothetical question posed by Stephen in the Science of Ethics, quoted by AV Dicey in the Introduction to the Study of The Constitution. Dicey agreed with the answer that “legislators must go mad before they could pass such a law, and…