constitutional law – Current Awareness

Ioannis Kouvakas: You Can’t Have Your Apple and Eat It Too: Decryption Orders and the Perilous Future of U.K. Data Adequacy – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted March 13th, 2025 in appeals, closed material, constitutional law, data protection, government departments, intelligence services, investigatory powers, news, privacy, telecommunications by sally

‘Earlier last month, The Washington Post reported that Apple, a technology company known for emphasizing privacy as one of its key selling points, had been ordered by the U.K. government to create a back door that would enable the retrieval of all content uploaded by any Apple user worldwide to iCloud. iCloud is a cloud storage service that is encrypted by default, and its users may also opt in to the use of end-to-end encryption, an additional layer of security ensuring that only the user (and not even Apple) can access the stored data.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th March 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Peers to probe state of rule of law – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted March 12th, 2025 in constitutional law, education, government departments, judiciary, media, news, parliament, rule of law, select committees by Lily

‘The state of the rule of law in the UK is to come under scrutiny by a high-powered committee of peers with members including a former lord chief justice. The House of Lords Constitution Committee today invited written contributions into an inquiry “seeking to understand the rule of law as a constitutional principle and what the state of the rule of law is in the UK.”‘

Law Society's Gazette, 11th March 2025

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Terence Daintith: Attacking the Attorney General: Some constitutional and administrative context – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted March 6th, 2025 in attorney general, constitutional law, government departments, news by sally

‘Identifying the rules and practices that should properly be regarded as part of our flexible and uncodified constitution is nowhere more difficult than in relation to the internal workings of the executive. At one time this difficulty was normally attributed to a culture of secrecy within government that kept information about its internal organisation out of the public domain. But as Alan Page and I document in our forthcoming Executive Self-Government and the Constitution (OUP, expected April 2025), which shows how constitutionally significant rules and practices within the executive have evolved over the course of this century, a far greater volume of material about such rules and practices is now published – a response, one might surmise, not so much to the formal requirements of the Freedom of Information Act as to the informal pressures and expectations fuelled by the internet, social media and the 24-hour news cycle.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 6th March 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Ben Yong: What—and Who—is Parliament? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted February 13th, 2025 in constitutional law, news, parliament, repairs by sally

‘The Palace of Westminster is a symbol of British democracy, and it is falling apart. It is a serious danger to those who work within it: a recent news report suggested the Palace could be the next ‘Notre Dame inferno’. For years parliamentarians have repeatedly argued over what to do about this grim state of affairs, because fixing the Palace involves a very serious and painful investment of money—billions of pounds; and because it potentially means parliamentarians will have to leave the Palace—for decades. Observers watch this dire state of affairs with increasing dread. Thinking about the Restoration and Renewal (‘R&R’) of the Palace, therefore, raises questions of responsibility, both legal and moral, but it also prompts us to ask more metaphysical questions: what—and who—is Parliament?’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th February 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

David Erdos: Lost in Inaction? The Statutory Reports on Media Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted February 13th, 2025 in constitutional law, data protection, dispute resolution, media, news, reports by sally

‘Section 179 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 places the Secretary of State under a duty to ensure that a Report is “la[id] before Parliament” on both the “use” and “effectiveness” of “relevant alternative dispute resolution procedures” in cases involving actual or alleged failures by media organisations, other than broadcasters, “to comply with the data protection legislation”. Such a duty applies at the end of a repeating three-year period. The procedures to be reported on are those provided by “persons who produce or enforce codes of practice” for such media organisations and are “alternative” in the sense of being extra-judicial. This duty was proposed after the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) – the principal self-regulator of the Press – stated (following Government pressure) that it would introduce a ‘compulsory’ arbitration procedure covering data protection.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 12th February 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Mark K Heatley: The Disadvantages of Local Legislation – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted February 11th, 2025 in constitutional law, legal history, legislation, local government, news, parliament by tracey

‘The term Private Acts of Parliament (PA) is widely used to include local Acts, that benefit organizations such as local authorities or authorize major infrastructure projects and are often of limited geographical extent, or personal Acts that benefit individuals. This post considers the reasons for the decline in the enaction of Local Acts of Parliament (LAs), which began in the nineteenth century with the process of enacting local legislation by provisional order. Provisional orders were introduced as a substitute for LAs and were issued by a Minister following a local inquiry, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, but required a later individual and specific confirmatory Act of Parliament. Although their occasional use has persisted, they in turn were largely replaced by Special Procedure Orders following the passing of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act in 1945.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 11th February 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Tasneem Ghazi: Political Accountability for the Abuse of Guidance: Comparing English and Irish Guidance during the Coronavirus Lockdown – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted February 4th, 2025 in constitutional law, coronavirus, government departments, Ireland, news by tracey

‘This blog post compares how the government of Ireland and the UK government exercising its responsibility for England used non-statutory guidance during the pandemic to reinforce two severe intrusions upon peoples’ liberty: the orders requiring people to stay home and to refrain from public gatherings.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 3rd February 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Katie Lines: Law and Guidance in a Public Health Emergency – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted January 29th, 2025 in constitutional law, coronavirus, government departments, health, news, rule of law by tracey

‘The use of law and guidance in a public health emergency was one of the issues explored by the Independent Commission on UK Public Health Emergency Powers. The Commission, chaired by the Rt. Hon. Sir Jack Beatson FBA and supported by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, conducted an intensive review of the constitutional and rule of law dimensions of the UK’s Covid-19 response and emergency powers framework. Neither the UK nor Scottish Covid-19 Inquiries are focussing on these aspects of the pandemic response, and so the Commission was launched to fill this gap. Its report was published last spring and makes 44 recommendations for changes in law, policy, practice and procedure.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 29th January 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Dane Luo: R (Jwanczuk) v Work and Pensions Secretary: Bringing a Comparative Lens to Judicial Precedent on Inter-jurisdictional Laws – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted January 22nd, 2025 in appeals, bereavement, constitutional law, courts, government departments, jurisdiction, news, Northern Ireland, pensions, Supreme Court by Lily

‘The Supreme Court will hear the appeal in R (Jwanczuk) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UKSC/2023/0152) on 11 and 12 March 2025. One of the issues is the circumstances in which courts in England and Wales may depart from decisions of appellate courts in Northern Ireland and Scotland regarding laws of inter-jurisdictional operation (that is, laws passed by the Westminster Parliament that apply throughout the UK, or where identical or materially similar laws have been enacted in multiple jurisdictions). On one hand, the classical exposition of stare decisis is that it operates vertically, such that decisions by extra-hierarchical courts are never binding. But if stare decisis is concerned with predictability and enabling the public to legitimately rely on past decisions in carrying out their affairs, those aspirations would not be met if the same provisions were given two different meanings depending on whether one is north or south of the Tweed (or if one is to the east or west of the Irish Sea in Great Britain or Northern Ireland).’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 22nd January 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Cassandra Somers-Joce and Joe Tomlinson: When Are Public Bodies Legally Required to Proactively Collect Data? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted January 20th, 2025 in asylum, constitutional law, equality, government departments, immigration, news, pregnancy by tracey

‘In a recent Administrative Court decision, the Secretary of State for the Home Department was found to be in breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty (the “PSED”), contained in s.149 of the Equality Act 2010, due to failing to collect and monitor statistical equality data relating to the provision of asylum accommodation to vulnerable individuals. The judgment in R (DXK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 579 (Admin) (“DXK”) builds upon a developing line of cases which have found that the duty to have ‘due regard’ under the PSED may require a decision maker to proactively obtain information, rather than simply to consider existing information. It also provides an interesting exploration of the relationship between the circumstances in which the PSED will require the collection of information by a public body decision maker, and the common law duty of inquiry.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 20th January 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

David Erdos: A Clear Oversight? Inquiring into the Information Commissioner’s 2024 Statutory Review of Journalism – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted December 20th, 2024 in constitutional law, data protection, inquiries, media, news, privacy by sally

‘2024 was billed to be the year of the first ‘robust and comprehensive’ UK statutory review of the extent of journalism’s compliance with data protection law and good practice, a formal appraisal which was (and is) meant to become a clear ‘part of the media landscape’ as reformed by the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 in the wake of the general/first part of the Leveson Inquiry. In sum, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was obliged to assess and report on the extent of journalistic compliance with data protection law and good practice during the first four years of the new regime (as well as over subsequent five year periods). Reflecting the admittedly very challenging nature of this task, the ICO also gained unprecedented and far-reaching powers (Sch. 17) which enabled it to compel the provision of relevant information with only 24 hours’ notice (para. 2) and even to assess activity on site through assessment notices (para. 3). Unfortunately, as this blog will explicate, the ICO did not use any of these powers or undertake a Review which can be seen as either robust or comprehensive, produced an Outcomes Report which failed to come to any definitive view as to the extent of journalistic compliance and also elected not to proactively publicise its Review Report in any way at the time of its release.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 17th December 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Anurag Deb: The language of laws: Situating legislative drafting in its proper context – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted December 16th, 2024 in bills, constitutional law, drafting, news by tracey

‘One aspect of the recent debates surrounding the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill moved by Kim Leadbeater MP was the criticism expressed of the Bill’s drafting – that is, the actual text of the Bill’s provisions as distinct from their underlying policy objectives or purposes. The concerns with this language were largely put to bed when it emerged that the Bill had been drafted by Dame Elizabeth Gardiner, the former First Parliamentary Counsel (FPC, the head of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel – the legal drafters who draft Bills moved in the UK Parliament).

In this post, I want to challenge two ideas about how the language of a Bill emerges, not least because legislative drafting is a seldom discussed, and (with respect to those who have engaged with this issue in the context of the Leadbeater Bill) considerably underappreciated, aspect of how primary legislation is made at Westminster and its devolved counterparts.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 16th December 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Francesca Jackson: Should the Monarch Pay Inheritance Tax? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted December 2nd, 2024 in constitutional law, Crown, inheritance tax, news, royal family by tracey

‘The recent protests by farmers over changes to the rules on inheritance tax have raised questions over who, if anyone, should be exempt from paying it – including King Charles, as an episode of Newsnight has recently highlighted.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 2nd December 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Stevie Martin: Differentiation in dying: Can limiting assisted suicide to the terminally ill be justified? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted November 27th, 2024 in assisted suicide, bills, constitutional law, health, human rights, news, suicide by sally

‘With the second reading of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill fast approaching, debate persists as to whether limiting eligibility to terminally ill adults could be successfully challenged as discriminatory under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) before the domestic courts and/or the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This blog post does not seek to rehash well-trodden ground in this respect (see here, here and here for posts that discuss it in detail). Rather, it seeks only to contribute a comparative lens which indicates a potential basis upon which the UK Government could justify limiting assisted dying to the terminally ill.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 27th November 204

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Francesca Jackson: What Does the Debate Over Slavery Reparations Tell Us About the Cardinal Convention, Soft Power and the Public Service Monarchy? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted November 21st, 2024 in colonies, compensation, constitutional law, Crown, news, prerogative powers by sally

‘There is a good reason why the constitutional convention requiring the monarch to exercise his prerogative powers on the advice of his government is known as the “Cardinal Convention”: it is ‘the most fundamental’ constitutional convention relating to the monarchy – something King Charles is finding out when it comes to slavery reparations.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 21st November 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Philip Murray: Assisted Suicide and the ECHR: Some Further Thoughts – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted November 19th, 2024 in assisted suicide, bills, constitutional law, health, human rights, news, suicide by tracey

‘My recent post on Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which seeks to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill adults and so modify the blanket ban provided by s. 2 of the Suicide Act 1961, has attracted some attention. There I raised questions as to the compatibility of the Bill with articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”), suggesting that extending assisted suicide only to terminally ill adults might be considered unlawfully discriminatory. I argued that there can therefore be no guarantees that the Bill would not have to expand in the future if the UK is to continue to adhere to its obligations under the ECHR. Alex Ruck Keene KC, who represented Noel Conway in his legal challenge to the UK’s blanket ban, has made a similar argument.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 19th November 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Gabriel Tan: A confused approach to irrationality: Oakley and Sneddon v Secretary of State for Justice – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted November 4th, 2024 in appeals, constitutional law, Ministry of Justice, news, parole, prisons by tracey

‘On 28 October 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down its eagerly-awaited judgment in Oakley and Sneddon v Secretary of State for Justice, concerning the proper approach to cases where the Secretary of State rejects advice from the Parole Board to transfer prisoners to open prison conditions.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 4th November 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Assisted Dying: What Role for the Judge? – Transparency Project

Posted October 31st, 2024 in assisted suicide, bills, constitutional law, families, family courts, health, judges, judiciary, news, suicide by sally

‘The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill had its first, purely formal, reading in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, when it was presented by Kim Leadbeater MP. The important second reading is fixed for 29 November 2024.’

Transparency Project, 30th October 2024

Source: transparencyproject.org.uk

Philip Murray: Looking down the slippery slope: Can assisted suicide be restricted to the terminally ill? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted October 31st, 2024 in assisted suicide, bills, constitutional law, health, human rights, news, suicide by sally

‘Kim Leadbeater has recently introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons which seeks to legalise assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Despite its second reading being scheduled for 29 November, the text of the Bill is, somewhat remarkably given its significance, still to be published. Yet the outline of Leadbeater’s proposals has already become known. As such, I seek to offer here a legal analysis of some of the issues relating to legalising assisted suicide in the UK, and particular the idea that any law can be effectively limited to terminally ill adults.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 30th October 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Thomas Horsley, Coree Brown Swan, Nicola McEwen and Lisa Claire Whitten: Westminster Rules: The United Kingdom Internal Market Act and Devolution – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted October 21st, 2024 in brexit, constitutional law, devolution, devolution issues, news by tracey

‘The UK Labour Government is committed to resetting relations with the devolved institutions. Yet, in its manifesto, Labour made no mention of any plans to reform the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA) – regulating intra-UK trade post-Brexit – to deliver that commitment. In government, Labour now appears reluctant to engage directly with the Act, preferring to work around, rather than with it (Horsley, 2024). In a new report on the operational impact of the UKIMA on devolution, we call on the UK Government to change tack and address the Act directly in collaboration with the devolved institutions. We conclude that reform is essential to restore intergovernmental trust – the desired ‘relations reset’ – and rebalance the authority of the UK and devolved institutions with respect to regulating intra-UK trade.’

UK Constitutional Law Association, 17th October 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

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