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A realignment of law & power?

10 October 2019 / Michael L Nash
Issue: 7859 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law , Brexit
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Michael L Nash examines the delicate balancing act between the three pillars of power in times of crisis
  • Throughout British history, the balance between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary has always been shifting and realigning. 
  • What role does the monarch play in this balance?

With considerable foresight, Professor Geoffrey Keeton wrote in 1952, in his book The Passing of Parliament: ‘It is in times of difficulty that the dangers from extremists are greatest… it is then that desperate remedies have the best chance of being tried, and when there may be a general disposition to trust a group, or even a single man, with uncontrolled powers, to make far-reaching experiments. Under the present conditions which now exist in Great Britain, this can be quickly and legally achieved by… continuing to exclude or to confine within narrow limits the right of recourse to the ordinary courts.’

This, then, brings into sharp focus the role of the trinity of powers which exist in any country

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
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