Tag: statutory interpretation
-
Michael Foran: For Women Scotland: Is legal recognition of biological sex a violation of human rights?
In For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers the UK Supreme Court rejected the contention that possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate changes an individual’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, maintaining equality of status for all those protected under the characteristic of gender reassignment and ensuring that biological women are protected…
-
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…
-
Donnchadh Greene and Gabriel Tan: Statutory Interpretation and Citizenship: D4 v SSHD and PRCBC v SSHD
This piece considers two recent decisions – one by the Court of Appeal (“CA”): D4 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 33, and the other by the Supreme Court (“SC”): R (The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022]…
-
Michael Foran: Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Politics of Law-making
Parliamentary sovereignty has traditionally been understood to mean that Parliament is free to enact legislation on any area of law that it chooses, and that Acts of the U.K. Parliament take precedence over subordinate legislation, regulation, or common law rule. Understood this way, parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional principle that is couched explicitly in legal…
-
Mark Elliott and Nicholas Kilford: Devolution in the Supreme Court: Legislative Supremacy, Parliament’s ‘Unqualified’ Power, and ‘Modifying’ the Scotland Act
In the Continuity Bill Reference, the Supreme Court advanced a striking analysis of the implications for devolution of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty — or, more specifically, of the provision in the Scotland Act 1998 that had hitherto been understood merely to affirm that doctrine. The provision in question is section 28(7), which says of…
-
Krishan Nadesan: Asking the Impossible: Benn, Kinnock and Extending Article 50
Boris Johnson seems caught in an impossible bind. The European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act – the Benn Act for short – obliges him to seek an extension of Article 50 on 19 October. He can extend, honour the law, but break his promises. He can refuse to extend, honour his promises, but break the…
-
Alison Young: Prorogation, Politics and the Principle of Legality
Constitutional lawyers often point to key cases as milestones in public law. Recently, the Supreme Court decision in Privacy International joined the ranks of leading public law cases, adding to the cases discussing ouster clauses and the extent to which courts can review decisions of inferior courts and tribunals in Anisminic and Cart. As Privacy…
-
Mike Gordon: Privacy International, Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Synthetic Constitution
The case of R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal is the latest in a series of high profile judicial engagements with the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. The case concerned the legal status of s.68(7) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and in particular, whether this provision constituted a successful attempt to oust…
-
Thomas Fairclough: What’s New About the Rule of Law? A Reply to Michal Hain
This blog recently published a detailed piece by Michal Hain. He made some very interesting claims that this note will examine. I start by explaining Hain’s arguments and ordering them roughly according to the way they come out in his piece. I then examine each in greater detail giving my own views. Finally, I will…
-
Michal Hain: Guardians of the Constitution – the Constitutional Implications of a Substantive Rule of Law
A constitutional storm is brewing. Whilst it is too early to perform the burial rites for parliamentary sovereignty, the Supreme Court’s decisions in R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51 and R (Evans) v Attorney-General [2015] UKSC 21 are the beginning of the end of the principle’s unrivalled reign. Two especially thorny constitutional issues…