The unconstitutionality of the Supreme Court’s prorogation judgment

The Supreme Court’s judgment in Miller/Cherry [2019] UKSC 41 holds that Parliamentary sovereignty needs to be judicially protected against the power of the Government to prorogue Parliament. This paper shows that the Judgment was wholly unjustified by law.  It wrongly transfers the conventions about prorogation into the domain of justiciable law.

Legislated Rights

Is democratic power increasingly supplanted by the courts? Our new series of international views looks at the question of whether elected parliaments are better placed than judges to guarantee rights.

Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Design

Paul Yowell’s new book, Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Design, argues that courts were not designed for the kind of moral and empirical reasoning they now routinely undertake. To consider these questions and respond to the argument of the book, Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project has solicited commentary from leading scholars and jurists.

Commentary on Sir Noel Malcolm’s “Human Rights and Political Wrongs”

In his recent study for Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project, Sir Noel Malcolm (All Souls College, Oxford) considers European Human Rights law and finds it wanting. In February 2018, Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project convened a panel discussion to address Sir Noel’s critique of European human rights law – and his robust conclusion that the UK ought to withdraw from the Convention. The panellists committed their further thoughts to writing in this commentary series.

Does Political Criticism Of Judges Damage Judicial Independence?

In this new paper the Honourable Dyson Heydon AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia, asks Does Political Criticism of Judges Damage Judicial Independence?

Judicial Power and the Balance of Our Constitution

This collection reflects on the place of judicial power in the common law constitutional tradition. It is framed around two lectures by John Finnis.

Judicial Power and the Left: Notes on a Sceptical Tradition

In this collection of short essays, leading political and legal thinkers reflect on the left’s traditional scepticism towards expansive judicial power.

Intimidation as Foreign Policy

Intimidation as Foreign Policy

How Mauritius has attemted to criminalise UK sovereignty over the Chagos Islands In 2021, Mauritius enacted a law which criminalises “misrepresenting the sovereignty of Mauritius over any part of its territory”, part of its long-running campaign against Britain’s...

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Upholding Standards; Unsettling Conventions

Upholding Standards; Unsettling Conventions

Upholding Standards; Unsettling Conventions argues that proposals for a statutory role for the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests and putting the Ministerial Code on a legal footing would give rise to serious constitutional questions and carry substantial...

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Sovereignty and Security in the Indian Ocean

Sovereignty and Security in the Indian Ocean

This paper makes the urgent case for the Government not to cede control of the Chagos Islands.  In November 2022, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK was entering into negotiations with Mauritius about the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian...

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What do we want from the King’s Speech?

What do we want from the King’s Speech?

What do we want from the King’s Speech?’ sets out an ambitious programme of 14 new laws that the Government should announce in the King’s Speech – for what will be the last Parliamentary Session before the general election. Proposals put forward by Policy Exchange...

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