Tag: primary legislation
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Ronan Cormacain: The rise and rise of the super-enabling clause
It has become increasingly popular to include what I term a ‘super-enabling clause’ in primary legislation. It is my contention these clauses are bad for democracy and the rule of law. A regular enabling clause grants a minister the power to make secondary legislation on a specific point. A super-enabling clause is broader and less…
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Ronan Cormacain: Protecting Veterans or Protecting the Ministry of Defence? Clarity in the Overseas Operations Bill
Legislation needs to be clear so that citizens can understand it and parliamentarians know what they are voting for. The need for clarity in legislation is set out as the first principle of Bingham’s definition of the Rule of Law, and the need for intelligibility in legislation is a requirement of the Venice Commission Checklist…
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Alexandra Sinclair and Joe Tomlinson: Eliminating Effective Scrutiny: Prorogation, No Deal Brexit, and Statutory Instruments
The decision to prorogue Parliament does not only have implications for whether Parliament can prevent a no deal Brexit, it also has important consequences for the making of primary and secondary legislation prior to exit day. We are particularly concerned with statutory instruments (SIs). There is already a strained position vis-à-vis the lack of scrutiny…
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Alexandra Sinclair and Joe Tomlinson: Brexit, Primary Legislation, and Statutory Instruments: Everything in Its Right Place?
Legislation to enable Brexit is progressing through Parliament. This includes the Immigration and Social Security Bill, the Fisheries Bill, the Financial Services (Implementation of Legislation) Bill, and the Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill. One curious aspect of this raft of new law is that, at the same time these Bills are making their way through Parliament,…
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Alison Young: Status of EU Law Post Brexit: Part Two
In an earlier blog post, I argued that whilst the Government’s amendments provided some clarity as to the status of retained EU law post Brexit, they failed to provide a complete account, giving rise to a potential for further uncertainty in the future. This post will examine two further issues – whether the amendments respond…
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Alison Young: Status of EU Law Post Brexit: Part One
It is well-known that the status of retained EU law post Brexit was originally left undefined by the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, save that it is classified as primary legislation for the purposes of the Human Rights Act 1998. This led to criticism of the Bill, leading to a suggested recommendation from the House of…
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Paul Craig: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: Legal Status and Effect of Retained Law
In an earlier posting I intimated that the initial divide between EU measures that should be regarded as primary legislation post-Brexit and those that should be regarded as secondary measures would not be too difficult to draw. When the initial divide had been made it could then be decided whether the status of any such…
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Sir Stephen Laws: Giving “Deemed” Domestic Law Status to Retained EU Law
In his latest blog on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, Paul Craig criticises the recommendation of the House of Lords Constitution Committee (“HLCC”), at paras 70 and 93, that all retained direct EU law (defined by the HLCC to encompass all the law continued under clauses 3 and 4 of the Withdrawal Bill) should be…