The judgment of the UK Supreme Court in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union — in which legal capacity of the Government to trigger the UK’s withdrawal from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union was tested — is of fundamental legal, constitutional and political significance. The Supreme Court’s judgment discussed the relative powers of Parliament and the Government, the relationship between Westminster and the devolved legislatures, and the extent to which the UK’s membership of the EU had changed the UK constitution, both prior to and even after departure. It also provided further evidence of the emerging role of the UK’s Supreme Court as a constitutional court, despite the lack of a codified constitution in the UK.
This collection of essays, edited by Mark Elliott, Alison L Young and Jack Williams, critically evaluates the decision in Miller, providing a detailed analysis of the reasoning in the judgment and its longer-term consequences for the UK constitution through the period of Brexit and beyond. The case is used as a lens through which to evaluate the modern UK constitution and its potential future evolution. Whatever form Brexit may eventually take, the impact that EU membership and the triggering of Brexit has already had on the UK’s constitutional settlement is profound. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in the effect of the Miller case and Brexit on the UK’s constitution.
Table of Contents
1. The Miller Tale: An Introduction Mark Elliott, Jack Williams and Alison L Young
2. Prerogative Powers After Miller: An Analysis in Four E’s Jack Williams
3. Miller and the Prerogative Anne Twomey
4. Miller, Treaty Making and the Rights of Subjects Eirik Bjørge
5. Miller, EU Law and the UK Paul Craig
6. Of power cables and bridges: Individual rights and retrospectivity in Miller and beyond David Howarth
7. Constitutional Change and Territorial Consent: The Miller case and the Sewel Convention Aileen McHarg
8. Sovereignty, Consent, and Constitutions: The Northern Ireland References Gordon Anthony
9. The Miller Case and Constitutional Statutes Sir John Laws
10. Sovereignty, Primacy and the Common Law Constitution: What has EU Membership Taught Us? Mark Elliott
11. Miller, Constitutional Realism and the Politics of Brexit Richard Ekins and Graham Gee
12. Miller and the Future of Constitutional Adjudication Alison L Young
The UK Constitution After Miller: Brexit and Beyond will be published by Hart Publishing in 2018. Further information about the book can be found in this post and on the Hart Publishing website. A pre-publication draft of the first chapter of the book, in which the editors examine the arguments advanced before and the judgments given by the Divisional Court and the Supreme Court in Miller, can be downloaded via SSRN.
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