scholarly journals THE GRADUAL CURTAILMENT OF THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Cox
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Natural Person

In the United Kingdom and those countries that recognise Elizabeth II as their Queen,1 there are to be found certain fundamental constitutional principles. One of these is that much of the legal basis of executive power derives from the Crown,2 though this has, in the past, often been downplayed for political and other reasons. Indeed, in the Commonwealth as a whole, political independence has often been equated with the reduction of the role of the Crown to a position of subservience to the political executive.3 What remains important is the position of the Crown as an organising principle of government (the framework upon which the structure of government is built4), as a source of legitimacy, and as a symbol for permanent government. Executive power, therefore, remains based on the royal prerogative, and the „third source‟ of authority (the legal powers of the legal natural person, as the Crown is a corporation aggregate), as well as upon statute law.

scholarly journals The practice of accountability in questioning prime ministers: Comparative evidence from Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110585
Author(s):  
Ruxandra Serban
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
The United Kingdom

This paper compares the practice of holding prime ministers to account in four case studies: Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Using text analysis, as well as research on prime ministerial responsibilities, it investigates oral questions asked in parliamentary procedures where prime ministers are questioned together with ministers (Question Period in Canada and Question Time in Australia) versus procedures where they are questioned individually (PMQs in the United Kingdom and Oral Questions to the Taoiseach in Ireland), and explores the degree to which they are questioned for matters that are within their remit. It argues that the practice of prime ministerial accountability is decisively shaped by procedural features such as whether written notice is required for questions, as well as by the broader role of the questioning mechanism in the political system, and less by the collective or individualised nature of questioning.

scholarly journals BREXIT AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Populist Movements

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the UK exit from the European Union as a manifestation of the systemic crisis of the liberal democracy model. The causes and difficulties of this process are analyzed under the conditions of the failure of the political system to make political decisions. The problematic issues of liberal ideology and the model of liberal democracy were examined. The differences in the ideological convictions of the two founders of liberalism – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as the role of these differences in the modern functioning of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom. The role of globalization processes in the world in the context of the development and functioning of liberal democracy is analyzed. Some features of the course of globalization processes in the world are highlighted. The features of the existence of the European Union as an international supranational organization in the context of its influence on the functioning and stability of the political system of the United Kingdom are examined. The features of the functioning of the model of liberal democracy under conditions of strengthening the international way of making political, economic and legal decisions are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to the political motives of organizing of start of the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as the consequences of such a decision. In addition, the role of populist movements in this process, that have Euro-skeptical positions, has been established. The features of the functioning of populist movements are highlighted. The essence of the crisis of the model of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom is determined. The author analyzes the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in the context of a peace settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland as one of the indicators of the crisis of the liberal political system. In conclusion is performed analysis of some results of the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

The political purpose of the ‘mixed legal system’ conception in the law of Scotland

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 843-863
Author(s):  
Andreas Rahmatian
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Property Law ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Real Possibility ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Purpose

This article explores the concept of the ‘mixed system’ of Scots private law as a tool for Scottish legal nationalism. The paper looks at some difficulties and contradictions of the ‘mixed system’ idea and the role of Scottish legal nationalism in Scottish legal academia. Examples from contract, tort (delict) and property law will be used to illustrate the function of the ‘mixed system’ conception as an ideological and political device to further the cause of legal nationalism. The article then discusses the features of Scottish legal nationalism. It will be argued that Scottish legal nationalism poses many problems but is now diminishing, and this probably even correlates, somewhat paradoxically, with the rise of Scottish political nationalism and the real possibility of Scottish political independence from the United Kingdom in the present political climate.

THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND. TWO WAYS – ONE CHOICE?

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
M. A. Mosora
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The Political ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Current State ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The Future

The article analyzes the features of the politicization of the Scotland and Northern Ireland at the present stage. The basic identifiers for the com­munities in these regions are revealed. The important role of devolution pol­icy in the political relations of the Center with regions in the United Kingdom is justified. Emphasis is placed on the exceptional importance of Brexit in the context of strengthening the separation of the Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is marked common and distinctive features of both regions in the vision of the political future. The current state of the factors contributing to separatism in both regions is compared. Estimates of the likelihood of increased separa­tion movements in the Scotland and Northern Ireland in the future are given.

Executive Power and Constituency Representation in United Kingdom Politics

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Gregory
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Government ◽  
Elected Representatives

It is sometimes argued that what helps to limit the political influence exercised by elected representatives in the United Kingdom on behalf of those they represent is the inability of MPs to ‘command the power of the executive’. Some MPs, however, are also members of the Government, and do command the power of the executive. This article examines the circumstances in which a fusion of constituency interest and executive power may occur. It concludes that as regards individual grievances, ‘constituency specific’ policy decisions, and matters of ‘high policy’ with a particular impact on their own constituencies, a variety of safeguards and constraints considerably restricts, if it does not eliminate entirely, the scope for constituency-motivated influence on Ministerial decisions.

THE POLITICS OF PROTESTANT STREET PREACHING IN 1890s IRELAND

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW KELLY
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Home Rule ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Evangelical Protestants ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The One

During the 1890s evangelical Protestants took to preaching on the streets in southern Irish towns and cities. They provoked an angry response, with large Catholic crowds gathering to protest at their activities. This created a difficult situation for the authorities. Obliged, on the one hand, to protect the rights and liberties of the preachers, they also looked to nurture behaviour appropriate to the sectarian realities in Ireland. At stake was the extent to which Ireland could be treated as an undifferentiated part of the United Kingdom, with W. E. H. Lecky increasingly recognizing the need for a different legal basis in Ireland. These events formed part of the wider evolution of ‘constructive unionism’. More broadly, respectable Irish Protestant and Catholic disapproval of preachers and the ‘mob’ revealed the way in which class attitudes cut across sectarian identities, suggesting that the political dividends paid the wider unionist movement by this exposure of the apparent realities of ‘Rome rule’ were little valued in the locale. Similarly, interventions by home rule politicians reinforced the sense that conciliating British public opinion was a central concern. Here was an example of how locally orientated sectarianism helped shape national political agendas.

Protecting the emblems in peacetime: The experiences of the British Red Cross Society

1989 ◽  
Vol 29 (272) ◽  
pp. 459-464
Author(s):  
Michael A. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
General Health ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
First Aid ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Short Article ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom

The special significance of the red cross and red crescent emblems as internationally agreed symbols of protection and neutrality in armed conflict will be diluted if these emblems, or signs closely resembling them, are used randomly or for diffuse purposes in time of peace. In countries like the United Kingdom which for the most part have been spared armed conflict for the past 40 years, the red cross emblem has frequently become closely identified with first aid and with general health or medical care, its primary and unique meaning during armed conflict often being forgotten or unknown. For this reason it is perhaps particularly important for National Societies in such countries to help the authorities monitor unauthorised uses or misuses of the emblems, and the role of National Societies in this respect has been recognised under the 1986 International Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Article 3 [2] thereof). In addition, dissemination activities can help to enhance understanding of the purpose of the emblems. This short article will discuss practical aspects of the monitoring role of the British Red Cross Society.

The State of Industrial Ill-Health in the United Kingdom

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Charles Clutterbuck
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
The State ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Safety Committees ◽  
Area Health

Recent health and safety legislation in the United Kingdom comes at a time of economic crisis. The only way of understanding its impact is to look back at the roles of employers, the State, trade unions, workers, and the medical establishment over the past 150 years since the rise of industrial capital. In many ways, issues that were current at the turn of the century—such as the conflict between profits and health, whether to clean up the production process or insulate workers from its hazards, compensation, and employers' liability—are still very much present today, although these issues are often obscured by the notions that there is an identity of interest between management and workers over health and safety and that profits and safety go together. The role of the trade unions in dealing with existing and new hazards of production has historically been ambiguous, yet the need for them to develop an overall policy of prevention has always been obvious. Although they are now part of the governing apparatus, other arms of the State—in particular the civil service—initiate changes in health and safety organization, while trade unions make sure they are enacted. The development of trade-union area health and safety groups represents the most important potential change and may well provide the necessary focus for information and organization to cut through the “concerned” propaganda from management and its safety committees and start the long-awaited cleanup of industry.

Protecting The Interests of Bidders for Public Contracts; The Role of the Common Law

1994 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-139
Author(s):  
Sue Arrowsmith
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Common ◽  
Public Contracts ◽  
Formal Rules

In the United Kingdom there has traditionally been little litigation over the award of public contracts. This is largely due to the absence, in the past, of formal rules regulating contract procedures, which might have founded a basis for legal actions. It is also to some extent a product of the reluctance of contractors to “bite the hand that feeds” and jeopardise their chances of future contracts; this factor may have discouraged contractors from taking advantage of the potentiality of common law doctrines for providing protection for bidders in the tendering process.

Introduction: “A Crime Against Humanity”: Slavery and The Boundaries of Legality, Past and Present

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariela Gross
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Legal History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Caribbean

Nowhere in legal history has the nexus between past and present received more attention in recent years than in the study of slavery. The memory of slavery has become a field of study in itself, and competing histories of slavery have animated contemporary legal and political debates. Today, new histories of capitalism have further illuminated the central role of slavery and the slave trade in building the modern Atlantic world. Across Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, new memorials, museums, and commemorations of slavery and abolition have brought new kinds of public engagement to the slave past. In the era of Black Lives Matter, understanding the connections between that past and the present day has never seemed more important, and historians are struggling with the question of how to engage the present in a historically nuanced way. One kind of engagement between past and present, among historians, lawyers, and activists, has been to draw connections between slavery in the past and in the present.

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