Tag: written constitution
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Brian Christopher Jones: A single written UK constitution may only make things worse
Arguments for and against a single written (or ‘codified’) UK constitution often revolve around flexibility versus rigidity or transparency versus opacity. Recently, another common objection is that it would just be inconvenient, or impossible given the current levels of polarisation. These objections are reasonable and legitimate, but they are hardly the full extent of the…
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Philip Allott: On the Merits of Constitutional Struggle
The current dramatic interaction between the Government, Parliament and the courts means that we are witnessing one of those formative moments in the evolution of our constitution of which there have been many over the course of centuries. The attention that is paid to the checks and balances of the US written constitution has tended…
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Richard Ekins: Reflections on Democracy’s Foundations
This is part of a series of posts in which Richard Ekins reflects upon Lord Sumption’s Reith Lectures. You can find the first posts here, here and here. In his fifth and final Reith lecture, broadcast yesterday morning and entitled “Shifting the Foundations”, Jonathan Sumption brings to a conclusion his reflections on “the decline of…
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Weekly round-up of events
This week’s event announcements are below. ~~~ The Democratic Case for a Written Constitution UCL Gustave Tuck LT, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Thursday 1 March 2018, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Speaker: Professor Jeff King (University College London) Chair: Lord Pannick QC (Blackstone Chambers) Series: Current Legal Problems 2017-18 Lecture Series The…
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Weekly round-up of events
This week’s event announcement is below. ~~~ The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society in association with Wolfson College and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford invites you to: The Case for a Written Constitution AC Grayling, Master of the New College of the Humanities, London Auditorium, Wolfson College, Linton Rd, Oxford OX2 6UD 5.30pm, Wednesday 6 December…
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Weekly round-up of events
This week’s event announcement is below. ~~~ The European Circuit in co-operation with Middle Temple International Committee presents “Written Constitutions – experiences and challenges” on 4 May 2017, 5-7 pm At: Sherrard Room, Ashley Building, Middle Temple Lane (above MT Library), EC4Y 9BT This round table discussion will draw on comparative experience of written constitutions,…
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Graham Allen: Kick-starting the debate on a codified constitution for the UK
Does the United Kingdom need a codified constitution? It’s a question on which generations of law students will have had to write essays, burning the midnight oil and scribbling or tapping away into the night, rehearsing the pros and the cons. But I want it to be something else: the start of a lively and…
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Andrew Le Sueur: Imagining judges in a written UK Constitution
The tide of interest (among those who care about these things) in the idea of a written, codified constitution for the United Kingdom rises and falls. At the moment the tide is quite high, but certainly not high enough to flow into the estuaries of government policy making. In 2010, Richard Gordon QC —a public…
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Mike Gordon: Constitutional Reform under the Coalition Government
The Government’s response to the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee’s (PCRC) report Do we need a constitutional convention for the UK? is in many ways a rather unremarkable document (Cm 8749, November 2013). The PCRC’s report (Fourth Report of Session 2012-13, HC 371) was published on 28th March 2013, and concluded that…
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Stephen Tierney: After the referendum – the Scottish Government’s proposal for a written Constitution
The debate over Scottish independence has turned recently to discussion of the post-referendum landscape. On 5 February the Scottish Government published Scotland’s Future: from the Referendum to Independence and a Written Constitution which suggests that a two stage process would follow upon a majority Yes vote. From the date of the referendum until March 2016…