Tag: UK Supreme Court
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Karolina Szopa: Triumph for Abortion Rights, or a Trojan Horse? The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill and Proportionality Assessment
Introduction On the 7 December 2022, the judgment of the UK Supreme Court in the Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland – Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill (‘SAZ’) affirmed the legality of a measure aimed at strengthening the exercise of the right to abortion in Northern Ireland (NI). The case concerned a…
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Kenneth A. Armstrong: Will the Supreme Court Clear the Way to a Scottish Independence Referendum?
At the end of June, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish Government’s roadmap for a referendum on Scottish independence. The centrepiece would be a Bill to be introduced into the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a referendum in like terms to the 2014 independence referendum, but absent an accompanying section 30 order…
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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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Brice Dickson: The HRA and Legacy Issues in Northern Ireland
*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. Generally speaking, the Human Rights Act (HRA) has played a marvellous role in helping the Northern Ireland peace process to…
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Stephen Tierney: The Lord Advocate’s Reference: Referendums and Constitutional Convention
On 11-12 October the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a reference brought by the Lord Advocate under the Scotland Act 1998, Schedule 6, para.34 (‘the Reference’). The Lord Advocate seeks determination of the following questions: Does the provision of the proposed Scottish Independence Referendum Bill that provides that the question to be asked in…
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Shona Wilson Stark and Raffael Fasel: Unconstitutionally Legal: How the UK Supreme Court Should Decide the Lord Advocate’s Reference
On 28 June 2022, the Lord Advocate referred to the UK Supreme Court (“UKSC”) the question of whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate for a second independence referendum (“Indyref 2”) without an Order enabling it do so under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 (a “section 30 Order”). Assuming the UKSC…
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Iain Jamieson: The Lord Advocate’s Role in Vetting Bills in the Scottish Parliament for Legislative Competence: A Reply to Chris McCorkindale
A Scottish Minister, when introducing a Bill into the Scottish Parliament, is required by section 31(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 to state that, in his or her view, the Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Parliament. Such a statement is required, by paragraph 3.4 of the Scottish Ministerial Code, to be…
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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]…
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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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Roger Masterman: Reasserting/Reappraising Dualism
Dualism is considered a staple characteristic of the UK’s constitutional order. Recognised as a necessary derivative of the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, the notion of dualism is ‘based on the proposition that international law and domestic law operate in independent spheres’ and that interaction between those spheres is formally contingent – in the forum of…