Scottish Devolution: Accommodating a Restless Nation

1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 97-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The United Kingdom

AbstractThe article traces the recognition of Scotland within constitutional arrangements. It argues that Scotland is best regarded as a nation, within the union state of the United Kingdom. Historically, Scotland was a separate nation state before 1707. After the union, as part of the United Kingdom, Scotland retained its own legal system and was treated differently in several ways. Since 1885 particularly, measures of devolution have been used in order to appease demands, or accommodate Scottish identity within the union. The Scotland Act 1998, which creates a separately elected Parliament and executive for Scotland is therefore not the first step in that process. The reform is a calculated gamble, and there are grounds to doubt whether the latest accommodation will satisfy.

Scotland

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Ward
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
System P

Introduction and Background As one of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (‘UK’), Scotland has always retained its separate legal system. Scotland occupies the northern part of the island of Great Britain, together with some...

Perspectives of law and culture on the end-of-life legislations in France, Germany, India, Italy and United Kingdom

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Law System ◽  
Life Study ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Legislative Changes

The interactions between law and culture in addressing the legal problems at the end of a life are currently being discussed in many countries. The discourse on this issue should be multidisciplinary, taking into account its legal, medical, ethical, philosophical and anthropological aspects. The concepts designed to manage the legal problems that occur when a life comes to an end are closely linked to the culture of each country. For this reason, countries with different cultural backgrounds have been selected for this comparative end-of-life study. In France, Germany and Italy, which have a continental legal system, the United Kingdom, which has a common law system, and India, the various religions and cultures exert an important influence on the modernisation of the legislation in this respect. The book deals with recent legislative changes and developments in the countries surveyed. With contributions by Soazick Kerneis, Guillaume Le Blanc, Jeanne Mesmin d’Estienne, Louis-Charles Viossat, Christophe Pacific, Volker Lipp, Christine Laquitaine, Philippe Poulain, Stephanie Rohlfing-Dijoux, Stefano Canestrari, Kartina A. Choong, Richard Law, Sabine Boussard, Prasannanshu Prasannanshu, Pierre Rosario Domingue, Arvin Halkhoree, Kerstin Peglow, Jörg Luther, Uwe Hellmann, Géraldine Demme, Sabir Kadel, Anja van Bernum, Marie Rossier, Victoria Roux, Charles Walleit, Berquis Bestvater

scholarly journals The United Kingdom (UK)

2020 ◽  
pp. 119-136
Author(s):  
Nina Amelung ◽  
Rafaela Granja ◽  
Helena Machado
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Dna Databases ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Criminal Intelligence ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Dna Database ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The UK is the possessor of the world’s oldest and largest DNA database by proportion of population: the National Criminal Intelligence DNA Database, established in 1995. As a nation-state that holds one of the world’s largest DNA databases, the UK has been dealing systematically with the societal effects triggered by various ethical controversies. In terms of bordering practices, the UK serves as an example of an ambivalent mode of re- and debordering. This ambivalence derives from the UK’s changing position regarding the Prüm system. In 2014, the UK government, driven by the parliament, decided to opt out of the Prüm Decisions. In 2015, after a Prüm-style pilot project run with other EU Member States, the UK decided to opt in. This decision, nonetheless, included the imposition of limits on other EU countries’ access to the UK’s data. Consequently, the UK’s debordering practices co-exist with rebordering attempts aimed at restricting access to their own data.

1. The English Legal System

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Alisdair A. Gillespie ◽  
Siobhan Weare
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Adversarial System ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
System P

This chapter provides an introduction to the English Legal System. Specifically, it explains the meaning of the terms ‘English’, ‘legal’, and ‘system’. It first provides an overview of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, namely England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It describes the types of law that exist and attempts to define what law is. It then discusses the English legal system, which is based on common law and is an adversarial system.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Edoardo Campanella ◽  
Marta Dassù
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
To Come ◽  
Reality Distortion

A brief overview of the main topics discussed throughout the book, with a focus on the emotional roots of today’s geopolitical disorder. More and more countries are becoming trapped in a past that no longer exists. Nostalgia offers relief from socio-economic angst and becomes an emotional weapon in the political debate used by jingoist leaders. Although nostalgic nationalism is a global phenomenon, it is Brexit that epitomizes it in its purest form. Only in the United Kingdom is it possible to identify the three moments of a periodizing nostalgic narrative: the “golden days”; the “great rupture”; and the “present discontent”. The golden age is represented by the imperial era. The rupture came not only with the slow demise of the British Empire, but also with the decision to join the European project in 1973. The present discontent is caused by the unwillingness of many Britons to come to terms with Britain’s transformation into an ordinary nation-state. The rest of the chapter discusses the structure of the book. The first section looks at how nostalgia is abused to build national myths capable of mobilizing a country toward a common goal. The second dismantles some of the reality distortion created by Brexiteers’ nostalgic rhetoric.

Law, Lawyers, and Humanism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal History ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Distinguished Career ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Selection Of

The first of two volumes, this collection of essays on Scots law represents a selection of the most cited articles published by Professor John W. Cairns over a distinguished career in legal history. It is a mark of his international eminence that much of his prolific output has been published outside of the United Kingdom, in a wide variety of journals and collections. The consequence is that some of his most valuable writing has appeared in sources which are difficult to locate. This collection covers the foundation and continuity of Scots law from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Scotland through the eighteenth-century influence of Dutch Humanism into the nineteenth century and the further development of the Scots legal system and profession.

1. The English Legal System

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Alisdair A. Gillespie ◽  
Siobhan Weare
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Adversarial System ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
System P

This chapter provides an introduction to the English Legal System. Specifically, it explains the meaning of the terms ‘English’, ‘legal’, and ‘system’. It first provides an overview of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, namely England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It describes the types of law that exist and attempts to define what law is. It then discusses the English legal system, which is based on common law and is an adversarial system.

The Need for a Constitution in the United Kingdom

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-285
Author(s):  
Wilberforce
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Flexible Instrument ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

I was not surprised when, from several alternative subjects, you chose, as the title of my Lecture, the need for a Constitution in Britain. Those of us without a written constitution are indeed, a select club—New Zealand, Israel, the United Kingdom.I will start with a quotation from Lord Salmon. In a recent lecture, he said: In this country [U.K.] we have an unwritten constitution. I have always regarded this as a blessing and never agreed with the theoretical objections to it. It is superbly flexible and above all it has stood the test of time. It works—and works admirably. But I am beginning to wonder whether it might not be wise to evolve, not an elaborate written constitution but perhaps the equivalent of a modern Bill of Rights. A statute which should lay down our basic freedoms, provide for their preservation and enact that it could not be repealed save by, say, a 75% majority of both Houses of Parliament.One can recognize in this passage the views of an eminent common lawyer, believing in the strength and potentialities of the common law as a flexible instrument, in, of course, the right hands: of one who believes deeply in human freedom, and who is concerned about the threat to it: who desires an explicit definition of the basic liberties and who believes that these can be protected by a sufficiently strong, entrenched, legal system. In this he undoubtedly reflects the views of many people, probably of the majority of ordinary men.

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