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17 February 2017 / Richard Wilson KC
Issue: 7734 / Categories: Features , Public , Brexit , EU , Constitutional law
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Water & oil: law & politics

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Politics & the law were kept well apart in the Supreme Court’s erudite judgment in Miller, as Richard Wilson QC explains
  • Parliamentary supremacy and prerogative powers.
  • The decision of the majority on the principal issue is consistent with long-established UK law.

It is a well-established principle of UK constitutional law that Parliament—not the government—is supreme over our domestic law: Case of Proclamations (1610), The Zamora case (1916), and the Tin Council case (1990) (reported as H Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd v Department of Trade and Industry [1990] 2 AC 418, [1989] 3 All ER 523).

The Royal Prerogative (“prerogative powers”) encompasses the residue of powers that remain vested in the Crown, but are now exercisable by ministers of the UK government, provided the exercise is consistent with Parliamentary legislation.

The exercise of prerogative powers cannot change domestic law. That is a matter for Parliament. Treaties are not part of domestic law. So ministers may exercise prerogative powers to make or withdraw from international treaties, provided that such exercise

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