Tag: prerogative power
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Robert Brett Taylor: Constitutional Conventions, Article 50 and Brexit
Following the result of the referendum on British membership of the European Union, constitutional commentators have been embroiled in a discussion over the legal basis on which withdrawal from the EU can take place, in particular whether parliamentary approval is legally required before Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union can be triggered. The…
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Robert Craig: Triggering Article 50 Does not Require Fresh Legislation
Introduction Considerable public interest has recently been focused on the ‘trigger’ mechanism for exit from the EU which is set out in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Expert opinion has divided between those who believe that the power to trigger Article 50 rests with the Executive using the legal authority of the royal prerogative…
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Thomas Fairclough: Article 50 and the Royal Prerogative
Introduction This piece seeks to address only one question: does Parliament or the Government have the power to decide to withdraw from the European Union in accordance with Article 50 TEU and through the notifying of the European Council of such a decision trigger the two year time limited formal withdrawal negotiations? Nick Barber, Tom…
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Thomas Fairclough: Judicial Review and Article 50: Some Preliminary Issues
Introduction There has been much debate on Article 50 TEU. More specifically, there have been thoughtful arguments about who or what has legal authority to trigger Article 50 and begin the Brexit process. Some have said it’s the Government acting under the Royal Prerogative whilst others have said it is for Parliament to start. My…
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Adam Tucker: Triggering Brexit: A Decision for the Government, but under Parliamentary Scrutiny
What more, if anything, is needed to translate the result of the referendum into actual exit from the European Union? This question, which hardly featured in public discussion before the poll, is now the subject of a fundamental public controversy. For the withdrawal process to begin, Article 50(1) of the Treaty of Lisbon requires a…
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Kenneth Armstrong: Push Me, Pull You: Whose Hand on the Article 50 Trigger?
The days since the outcome of the British referendum vote to leave the European Union have seen much speculation over the law and politics of withdrawing from the EU under Article 50 TEU. Two rather separate strands of speculation have begun to appear. On the one hand – and driven by an increasing acceptance that…
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Nick Barber, Tom Hickman and Jeff King: Pulling the Article 50 ‘Trigger’: Parliament’s Indispensable Role
In this post we argue that as a matter of domestic constitutional law, the Prime Minister is unable to issue a declaration under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – triggering our withdrawal from the European Union – without having been first authorised to do so by an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament. Were…
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Alexander Horne and Richard Kelly: Prerogative Powers and the Fixed-term Parliaments Act
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 is a contentious and oft criticised piece of legislation, although it does have its supporters. The government and the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee have argued it has created a stable environment for longer-term government planning. The 2011 Act made provision for the next general election to be held on…
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Carol Harlow: How not to do things with rules
For many years now, administrative lawyers have been puzzling over the relationship of rules and discretion. When is a rule a rule? Does the term properly cover ‘quasi-legislation’ or what is now generally called ‘soft law’? In his seminal study, Discretionary Justice (Urbana, Louisiana State University Press, 1969), KC Davis argued that rules of this…