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Nation transfixed by the Supreme Court

19 September 2019
Issue: 7856 / Categories: Legal News , Brexit , Constitutional law
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All eyes were on the Supreme Court livestream this week as eleven Justices heard argument on the matter of whether the decision to prorogue Parliament was lawful.

Writing in a number of dispatches on proceedings in NLJ this week, Michael Zander QC, Emeritus Professor, LSE, said he had initially agreed with retired Justice Lord Sumption that the court would rule the case not justiciable. After reading Lord Pannick’s Written Case for Gina Miller, the lead appellant in the English High Court appeal, however, he said: ‘I have changed my mind.

‘I now think there is a fair chance that the decision will go the other way.’

In his written case, Lord Pannick argues the Divisional Court was wrong to hold that the first question was whether the matter was justiciable and only if so, whether there had been a public law error. He highlights the fact the Prime Minister did not make a witness statement explaining the decision. Lord Pannick further argues that the legal principle of parliamentary sovereignty was engaged and the advice given to the monarch was an abuse of power because of the length of prorogation and because of evidence that the Prime Minister was, Lord Pannick says, ‘acting by reference to improper considerations which are inconsistent with the very notion of Parliamentary sovereignty’.

After looking at the Advocate General Lord Keen’s arguments on behalf of the government, Zander said the government also had ‘a strong case’.

Outlining the main points put forward by the government’s legal team, Zander writes that the government’s arguments include that the power to prorogue Parliament has historically been ‘used for political purposes including the purpose of restricting the time available to debate legislation and for long periods including at moments of political importance. In the First World War, Parliament was prorogued for a period of 53 calendar days. In August 1930 after the Wall Street Crash, it was prorogued for 87 days’.

Moreover, ‘advice about prorogation involved the weighing up of political considerations, including how most effectively to secure the government’s political and legislative objectives and agenda,’ Zander writes.

The case continues, at the time of going to press.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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