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Professor Mark Elliott
The incoming Deputy President of the Supreme Court devoted a recent lecture to a critique of my commentary on his judgment in the Spitalfields case, highlighting differences between us concerning the nature of the principle of legality. In this response to Lord Sales, I argue that underlying our disagreement are two sharply contrasting conceptions of the constitution, centring on whether parliamentary sovereignty is accorded such a dominant role as to…
A recent conference marking the 75th anniversary anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights provided a sobering opportunity for reflection on possible trajectories of human rights protection in the United Kingdom in a political era increasing characterised by populism. In this post, I reflect on narratives concerning the ECHR-HRA regime that engage in the ‘othering’ of human rights by framing them as foreign or external constructs, and argue that…
A complete list of posts can be found in the archive
In an open letter written in the context of the passage of the Terminally Ill Adults Bill through Parliament, three former Cabinet Secretaries assert that respect for the ‘primacy’ of the Commons is ‘not optional’. Contrary to this claim, however, the Commons has only such primacy as convention and law accord to it.
The House of Lords Constitution Committee’s new report on the rule of law provides an excellent overview of the concept and of the many challenges it finds itself under in the UK today. But the report’s focus on successive governments’ acts of constitutional negligence and recklessness that present challenges for the rule of law obscures…
Proposals for radical reform of the UK’s asylum system raise a number of legal and constitutional issues, with respect both to the European Convention on Human Rights and the domestic principle of the rule of law. A showdown with the courts, at either the domestic or European level, seems likely — but if the aim…
In a recent lecture, Supreme Court Justice Lord Briggs places renewed emphasis on the common law’s ability to protect human rights, and argues that we should not doubt its capaity to step in if the UK were to withdraw from the ECHR. In doing so, Lord Briggs paints a very positive picture of the common…
Now-published Government witness statements submitted to prosecutors in the China espionage case cast only limited light on what happened. In this post, I outline six key questions that remain to be answered by government ministers and the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, has made a statement to the House of Commons regarding the collapse of the prosecution of two individuals who had been accused of espionage contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911. Following the Prime Minister’s remarks last week, and other Ministers’ comments in interviews since then, it…
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