Tag: The Crown
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Michael Detmold: The Monarch in the Room
(Let’s be clear. Why is an Australian constitutional lawyer writing about the UK Constitution? It’s simple. She’s our Queen, too.) The Court in Miller/Cherry (at 35) distinguished between the question ‘whether a prerogative power exists’ and ‘whether, granted that a prerogative power exists, and that it has been exercised within its limits, the exercise of…
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Stephen Tierney: Prorogation and the Courts: A Question of Sovereignty
The request made by the Privy Council that the Queen prorogue Parliament was a clumsy and inappropriate attempt to shorten the time available for parliamentary scrutiny of the Brexit process. That much seems clear from papers submitted to the Court of Session in Cherry. It is therefore no surprise that the Inner House was receptive…
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David Howarth: How to Change the Government Without Causing a General Election
The Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 removed the ability of Prime Ministers to call early general elections and handed that power to Parliament. Parliament has two options: a motion supported by two thirds of MPs (434 votes) that an early election should take place; or a motion of no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government, in…
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Luke Beck: Australia’s Next King Could be Muslim or Catholic
Could Australia’s next king be a Muslim, a Catholic or some other non-Anglican? The answer according to the Australian Constitution is yes. It is well known that various religious tests govern succession to the Crown of the United Kingdom. Only Protestants may inherit the Crown. But the Australian Constitution expressly forbids religious tests for holding…
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Adam Perry: The Source of the Crown’s General Administrative Powers
The Crown has statutory and prerogative powers, and many people have said it has other powers as well. The Supreme Court clearly agreed for the first time in 2013. In R (New London College) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Lord Sumption said for the majority: ‘the Crown possesses some general administrative powers…