Chapter 3 Key debates
Topic |
‘The Rule of Law in UK Public Law Textbooks: From Critique to Acceptance?’ |
Author/Academic |
Brian Christopher Jones |
Viewpoint |
The author reflects on the expanded coverage which contemporary public law textbooks are giving to the rule of law. He goes on to discuss the justifications for the limited treatment of the topic by many twentieth-century textbooks, the factors responsible for the greater coverage in the subsequent period, the implications of studying the subject in such depth, and the range of perspectives from which it is viewed. |
Source |
[2018] Public Law 594–604 |
Topic |
‘Compassion and the Rule of Law’ |
Author/Academic |
Susan A Bandes |
Viewpoint |
This article considers whether compassion in legal reasoning is compatible with the rule of law, distinguishing between its possible uses as a guide to substantive decision-making on who should prevail in a legal dispute and as a way of understanding the issues at stake for the disputants. |
Source |
(2017) 13(2) International Journal of Law in Context 184–196 |
Topic |
‘The Contribution of Legislative Drafting to the Rule of Law’ |
Author/Academic |
Philip Sales |
Viewpoint |
This article discusses how good quality legal drafting contributes to the rule of law, understood both in terms of the law’s clarity and predictability and its consistency with constitutional principles and values. It also considers how drafters perform their rule of law role from their first receipt of instructions. |
Source |
(2018) 77 Cambridge Law Journal 630–635 |
Topic |
‘“The Judges versus the People?”: Brexit, Populism and the Rule of Law’ |
Author/Academic |
Christopher Clement-Davies |
Viewpoint |
This article condemns the personal attacks, in some national newspapers, on the judges in R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017). It outlines the constitutional issue to be determined regarding how Art 50 Treaty on European Union should be invoked and then expresses concern at the rise of populism and what this could mean for Western societies. The article concludes by noting the continuing uncertainty affecting the energy sector as to the timing and terms of Brexit. |
Source |
[2016] 7 International Energy Law Review 279–281 |
Topic |
‘The Contested Constitution: An Analysis of the Competing Models of British Constitutionalism’ |
Author/Academic |
Robert Brett Taylor |
Viewpoint |
This article examines the debate over the meaning of British constitutionalism, and analyses key features of its three competing models. It goes on to review the elements of legal constitutionalism, common law constitutionalism, and political constitutionalism, and suggests why an appropriate view of such constitutionalism requires a combination of elements from all three theories. |
Source |
[2018] Public Law 500–522 |