9. Constitutional Conventions

2021 ◽  
pp. 221-248
Author(s):  
Ian Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Constitutional Conventions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ministerial Responsibility ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter assesses the nature and purpose of constitutional conventions. The discussions cover the concepts of collective and individual ministerial responsibility; the relationship between the Monarch and her Ministers; the relationship between convention, statute, and the common law; the ‘Ponsonby rule’ and the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. It is argued that the concentration of effective political power is often very intense, even within a political party; small groups of senior Ministers or even the Prime Minister alone may occasionally be, to all intents and purposes, ‘elected dictators’.

9. Constitutional Conventions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Constitutional Conventions ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter assesses the nature and purpose of constitutional conventions. The discussions cover the concepts of collective and individual ministerial responsibility; the relationship between the Monarch and her Ministers; the relationship between convention, statute, and the common law; the Matrix-Churchill controversy; the ‘Ponsonby rule’ and the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. It is argued that the concentration of effective political power is often very intense, even within a political party; small groups of senior Ministers or even the Prime Minister alone may occasionally be, to all intents and purposes, ‘elected dictators’.

The Implementation of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom: Principles and Problems

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-564
Author(s):  
Dawn Oliver
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Common ◽  
Executive Agencies ◽  
The Relationship

First, I want to express my gratitude and sense of honour in being invited to deliver the Lionel Cohen lecture for 1995. The relationship between the Israeli and the British legal systems is a close and mutually beneficial one, and we in Britain in particular owe large debts to the legal community in Israel. This is especially the case in my field, public law, where distinguished academics have enriched our academic literature, notably Justice Zamir, whose work on the declaratory judgment has been so influential. Israeli courts, too, have made major contributions to the development of the common law generally and judicial review very notably.In this lecture I want to discuss the process of constitutional reform in the United Kingdom, and to explore some of the difficulties that lie in the way of reform. Some quite radical reforms to our system of government — the introduction of executive agencies in the British civil service, for instance—have been introduced without resort to legislation. There has been a spate of reform to local government and the National Health Service.

5. The Royal Prerogative and Constitutional Conventions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Thompson ◽  
Michael Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Constitutional Conventions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Statutory Basis ◽  
Legal Force

Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the courts and to show how legal principles are developed. This chapter reviews the royal prerogative and constitutional conventions, and the relationship between these two sources of constitutional rules. It identifies the various types of prerogative power, and the attempts to place such powers on a statutory basis, including in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, and the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. It also examines attempts to codify constitutional practice, including the Crown's personal prerogative of the appointment of the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Manual. The discussion moves on to constitutional conventions as a source of the constitution, their relationship with law, and their nature as rules of political behaviour. The chapter considers the treatment of conventions in the courts, and whether they can obtain legal force. Finally, the chapter discusses the codification of conventions.

The Trade Mark, Other Product Designations, and Goodwill

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Pila
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Trade Mark ◽  
Geographical Indication ◽  
Passing Off ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Essential Properties ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the meaning of the terms that appropriately denote the subject matter protectable by registered trade mark and allied rights, including the common law action of passing off. Drawing on the earlier analyses of the objects protectable by patent and copyright, it defines the trade mark, designation of origin, and geographical indication in their current European and UK conception as hybrid inventions/works in the form of purpose-limited expressive objects. It also considers the relationship between the different requirements for trade mark and allied rights protection, and related principles of entitlement. In its conclusion, the legal understandings of trade mark and allied rights subject matter are presented as answers to the questions identified in Chapter 3 concerning the categories and essential properties of the subject matter in question, their method of individuation, and the relationship between and method of establishing their and their tokens’ existence.

Custom in Late Medieval France

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-63
Author(s):  
Marie Seong-Hak Kim
Keyword(s):  
Legal History ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
National History ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Dynamic Movement ◽  
Medieval France ◽  
The Relationship

The idea of the dynamic movement of law—diffusion of legal institutions, rules, and culture—is deeply embedded in European legal history since antiquity. All the while, a potent spirit of local custom has sustained national history, forming an equally integral part of Europe’s legal tradition. This chapter examines the sources of law in late medieval France and the doctrine of custom. It also discusses the growth of royal justice and the relationship between private law and political power. An overview of major historiographical debates concerning the theory and nature of custom sheds light on the question as to whether the notion of common law (droit commun) emerged autonomously in France or only after custom was written down on the model of Roman law as jus commune.

9. Mental conditions, intoxication and mistake

2021 ◽  
pp. 292-358
Author(s):  
David Ormerod ◽  
Karl Laird
Keyword(s):  
External Factor ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Individual Actor ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the most commonly occurring ‘mental condition defences’, focusing on the pleas of insanity, intoxication and mistake. The common law historically made a distinction between justification and excuse, at least in relation to homicide. It is said that justification relates to the rightness of the act but to excuse as to the circumstances of the individual actor. The chapter examines the relationship between mental condition defences, insanity and unfitness to be tried, and explains the Law Commission’s most recent recommendations for reforming unfitness and other mental condition defences. It explores the test of insanity, disease of the mind (insanity) versus external factor (sane automatism), insane delusions and insanity, burden of proof, function of the jury, self-induced automatism, intoxication as a denial of criminal responsibility, voluntary and involuntary intoxication, dangerous or non-dangerous drugs in basic intent crime and intoxication induced with the intention of committing crime.

The Relationship between Disability Non-Discrimination Law and Quota Schemes

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-117
Author(s):  
Lisa Waddington
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between disability quota schemes and non-discrimination law in Europe. While at first sight they seem to sit uneasily beside each other, the chapter reveals how, in some instances, quota schemes can serve to facilitate compliance with non-discrimination legislation. At the same time, the chapter explores seeming incompatibilities between the two approaches and considers whether there are differences between common and civil law jurisdictions in this respect. Tentative conclusions suggest that there is a greater willingness to establish quota schemes through legislation in civil law jurisdictions compared to common law jurisdictions, and that quota schemes in civil law jurisdictions are more likely to provide for the imposition of a levy in the case that employers fail to meet their quota obligations through employing the required number of people with disabilities. There also seems to be some indication that there is greater awareness of the potential for conflict or tension, in various forms, between non-discrimination law and quota schemes in common law jurisdictions than in civil law jurisdictions. Finally, the two schemes operating in the common law states are only applicable to the public sector—whilst in civil law states quotas are generally applied to both public and private sector employers. This may indicate different perceptions regarding the role of public sector employers and the legitimacy of imposing quota requirements.

1. The historical origins of the trust

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
JE Penner
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Administrative Power ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Historical Origins

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter traces the historical roots of the trust. The law of trusts is the offspring of a certain English legal creature known as ‘equity’. Equity arose out of the administrative power of the medieval Chancellor, who was at the time the King’s most powerful minister. The nature of equity’s jurisdiction and its ability to provide remedies unavailable at common law, the relationship between equity and the common law and the ‘fusion’ of law and equity, and equity’s creation of the use, and then the trust, are discussed.

1. Foundations

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-32
Author(s):  
Gary Watt
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Special Concern ◽  
Trust Property ◽  
Court Of Chancery ◽  
Conceptual Foundations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter focuses on the historical and conceptual foundations of trusts and equity, first examining the history of the relationship between law and equity, including the historical origins of the trust. It then explains the idea of equity and how it is intertwined with the common law, and compares the trust with concepts such as gifts and contracts. The chapter shows that the trust arose in response to equity’s special concern to ensure that legal rights are not used in bad conscience, but later developed into a sophisticated institution governed by established rules. It looks at the reform of the Court of Chancery and considers trust property, equitable rights under a trust, separation of legal and equitable title, and the paradox of property and obligation.

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