The Sovereignty Conundrum

Author(s):  
Michael Keating

There are two ways of understanding the UK constitution. The classic Diceyean view is that sovereignty lies with the monarch-in-parliament alone. This is a fact, which requires no historical or normative justification. The other interpretation is that there are multiple sources of legitimate authority, including those embedded in the original union settlements, conventions, European Union law (before Brexit), European human rights law, normative principles and the devolution settlements. According to the first interpretation, devolution means that Westminster has lent power to the devolved institutions but can take it back at any time. According to the second, devolution is a constitutional measure, introducing federal principles into the union. In ordinary times, these conflicting interpretations can coexist but at times of crisis they come into the open.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Mat Campbell

This is the first English language paper seriously to examine the meaning of subsidiarity from the perspective of private law, in which it might be used to understand legal rules, or the interaction of different kinds of claim. Since there are so few relevant sources in English, this article casts a wide net for consensus. It offers six propositions about what it means to designate a rule or relationship (between legal regimes, say) as one of subsidiarity. These are formulated by reference, principally, to thinking about subsidiarity outwith private law; and, secondarily, to (i) miscellaneous literature about subsidiarity, (ii) the general French private law literature about subsidiarity, and (iii) what little can be gleaned from relevant unjust enrichment discourse in English. The state of play in that discourse is summarised, before the choice of Roman Catholic social teaching, European Union law, and European human rights law as settings to examine for their conceptions of subsidiarity is explained, and subsidiarity in each of these contexts is sketched out. Succeeding sections then outline each proposition, and clarify how it may be derived from the sources. The paper concludes by reflecting guardedly on the potential of subsidiarity in private law, as a way to model the interrelation of private law claims and doctrines.


Author(s):  
Jaani Riordan

This chapter considers several limitations upon the availability, nature, and scope of injunctive remedies available against internet intermediaries. These limitations derive from four main sources: general principles of injunctive relief, European Union law, human rights law, and specific doctrinal rules. Some are of universal application; others apply in more limited fields, such as the grant of interim injunctions, the enforcement of intellectual property rights, or to particular classes of defendants. With some exceptions, they are not specific to the internet, or even to intermediaries, and so apply in other domains and to other parties as well. This chapter divides these rules into general limitations and those specific to intellectual property. Safe harbours are addressed separately in chapter 12.


Author(s):  
Peter Reading

This chapter explains how the Equality Act 2010 has a direct relationship with the UK’s international human rights obligations at regional and global levels in the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe, and the United Nations (UN). It is thus vital to the understanding, interpretation, and application of the Act to appreciate how it interacts with: EU equality and human rights law, before and after the UK ceasing its membership of the European Union (Brexit); the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) which implements the ECHR; and the key United Nations Conventions which relate to issues of equality of particular groups. The UK’s membership of the EU ended on 31 January 2020. This will have a fundamental effect on the application of EU equality and human rights law to the Act. It should be noted, however, that the UK’s departure from the EU does not in any way affect its membership of the Council of Europe, or being a party to the ECHR. The ECHR has been implemented into the UK’s domestic law by the enactment of the HRA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Kraler

AbstractAlmost all Member States in the European Union currently make use, or in the past have made use of some form of regularisation of irregular immigrants, although to greatly varying degrees, in different ways and as a rule only reluctantly. A distinct feature of recent regularisations has been the shift towards a humanitarian justification of regularisation measures. In this context, regularisation has become reframed as an issue of the protection of irregular migrants’ human rights. As a result, regularisation has to some extent also been turned from a political tool in managing migration into an issue of international, European and national human rights law. While a human rights framework indeed offers a powerful rationale and at times compelling reasons why states ought to afford a legal status to irregular migrants, I argue that a human rights based approach must always be complemented by pragmatic considerations, as a human rights based justification of regularisation alone will be insufficient to find adequate responses to the changing presence of irregular migrants in the EU, not all of which can invoke human rights based claims to residence.


Author(s):  
Margot Horspool ◽  
Matthew Humphreys ◽  
Michael Wells-Greco

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. The eleventh edition of European Union Law provides a systematic overview of the European institutions and offers thorough, wide-ranging coverage of the key substantive law topics, including separate chapters on competition, discrimination, environmental law and services. It also features a new chapter on the EU and its relationship with third countries, including the UK. Incisive analysis of the governing themes and principles of EU law is consistently delivered, while chapter summaries, critical questions, further reading suggestions and the new ‘Brexit checklist’ feature help to guide the reader through the subject and support further research. Topics covered also include supremacy and direct effect, the European Courts, general principles, free movement of goods and persons and citizenship.


Author(s):  
Marta Pietras-Eichberger

The study analyzed selected issues related to the scope of human rights and freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Russia. The author wanted to compare the regulations issued by a Member State of the European Union and a country outside the European Union, often using undemocratic methods of exercising power. The work focuses on research problems related to the principles of protection, the confrontation of individual interests with the public interest, and the impact of the regimes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights law in both countries. The thesis of the study is that in the event of a threat to public health, analogous restrictions on human rights are introduced both in an undemocratic country and in a country belonging to international structures identifying with democratic values. The state of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed, and in some area even contributed to the creation of mechanisms reserved for crisis situations, posing a direct and real threat to public safety and health.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA HUNEEUS

AbstractThis article argues that human rights law – which mediates between claims about universal human nature, on the one hand, and hard-fought political battles, on the other – is in particular need of a richer exchange between jurisprudential approaches and social science theory and methods. Using the example of the Inter-American Human Rights System, the article calls for more human rights scholarship with a new realist sensibility. It demonstrates in what ways legal and social science scholarship on human rights law both stand to improve through sustained, thoughtful exchange.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Marija Daka

The paper presents some of the most relevant aspects of European nondiscrimination law established th rough European Union law and the European Convention on Human Rights, looking also at the evolution of the norms and milestones of case-law on equal treatment within the two systems. The paper gives an overview of the non-discrimination concept as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union and by the European Court of Human Rights. We examine the similar elements but also give insight into conceptual differences between the two human rights regimes when dealing with equal treatment. The differences mainly stem from the more complex approach taken by EU law although, based on analysed norms, cases, and provisions, the aspects of equal treatment in EU law are largely consistent with the practice of the ECtHR. Lastly, the paper briefl y places the European non-discrimination law within the multi-layered human rights system, giving some food for thought for the future potential this concept brings.


2021 ◽  
pp. 124-141
Author(s):  
Colin Faragher

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the Treaty framework and sources of EU law as well as the institutions of the EU. It covers the legal background to the UK’s departure from the EU, the legal process through which the UK left the EU, the key provisions of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (2020), and the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020. This chapter also discusses the effect of the UK’s departure from the EU on the status of the sources of EU law and the effect of leaving the EU on the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms as well as failure to transpose a Directive into national law and the effect of leaving the EU on the Francovich principle.


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