Tag: Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series
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Se-shauna Wheatle and Roger Masterman: The Legal and Political Dimensions of Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles
*Editors’ Note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* Unwritten constitutional principles supply much of the foundation – or ‘hidden wiring’ – of the UK constitution. As Lord Reed has recently recognised, the constitution relies on numerous ‘understandings, generally tacit, about how power should be exercised’. Constitutional form and…
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Nicholas Kilford: Interpreting The Devolution Statutes
*Editors’ Note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* Throughout the life of devolution, the courts appear to have diverged on how to properly determine the scope and limits of devolved lawmaking power, and the extent to which norms and principles not expressly contained in the text of the…
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Daniel Skeffington and Philippe Lagassé: Principle, Practice, and Prerogative
*Editors’ Note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* It remains commonplace, both in political and public law discourse, to describe the Royal Prerogative as archaic or anachronistic. Executive power in the United Kingdom may begin with the Crown, but even the most venerated constitutional historians have long thought ‘the Crown’ is a convenient…
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Seána Glennon: The Role of Deliberative Minipublics in Enhancing Democracy in Canada
*Editors’ note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* Constitutional structures generally leave space for institutional innovations that can enhance the democratic process. One such innovation, embraced by a variety of countries around the world, is the deliberative minipublic. Experimentation with incorporating deliberative minipublics into the modern democratic process began…
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Joanne Murray: Administrative and Citizen Interpretations of Unwritten Constitutional Principles
*Editors’ Note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* Introduction Who gets to interpret and articulate unwritten constitutional principles (UCPs) or constitutional silences? In answering that question, we often assume that the key institutional actors are either the courts and Parliament (or both, depending on one’s position). However, such…
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Hayley Hooper: Historical Origins of the ‘Principle of Legality’ in British Public Law
*Editors’ Note: This post is part of the ‘Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Blog Series’* In 2021 the then Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC MP cited the principle of legality as an example of an aspect of public law that might ‘take on a life of [its] own, and lead to the courts overreaching.’ In…
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Se-shauna Wheatle and Vanessa MacDonnell: Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles – Blog Series Introduction
Unwritten constitutionalism is often associated with Westminster systems, but it is arguably a feature of all constitutional democracies, including jurisdictions with highly codified constitutions. The ‘unwritten’ facets of the constitution encompass a range of constitutional norms and principles that do not derive their validity from texts authorized through a formal institutional process. The unwritten rules…