Lecture notes
Public Law notes
- Module
- Public Law (LW588)
- Institution
- The University Of Kent (UKC)
Public Law notes 2020/2021 first term weeks 2-14
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Public LawLW588:
Week 3,
Seminar 2:
Areas of Law
Is a body of rules that have special status within a society and political system
Societal rules:
a) Good manners
b) Social conduct
c) Behavioral expectations
Laws have a distinctive quality of binding that makes it a different status from societal rules
which is a. Made by;
I. an apparatu of institutions within a state
b. Applied by;
I. the apparatus that makes them
II. different + specific institutions
I.e. courts
c. challenged + disputed by;
I. legal systems
Areas of Politics
-structure of political institutions of the state
-political philosophy + theory
Political Theory
Articulate;
a. Ideas of the organization of the state
b. Limits of the state
c. Right + wrong
I.e. In terms of government actions
Rights
a. Human rights (civil liberties)
Domestic + international + ECHR Conventions
I. vindication of rights
How people’s rights are establish + secured
II. non-vindication of rights
How they are not protected
b. Contraflow rights
Known legal rules of the system of the constitution which is regarded as binding
Not embodied in an act of parliament
Influential + significant + important constitutional rules to be followed
Transform the legal structure
, Ex. the monarch acts on advice
Even if the powers of the government are vested in the crown
(in strict legal theory, they belong to the crown)
+ She does not exercise his powers, but on acts on advice
The Government of the day act for the Crown
Eg. Miller no. 2 (proroguing + suspending parliament)
The queen was advised to suspend parliament
was challenged in court
+ The queen acted on the advice of her PM
Issue: Could she have refused?
Ex. the monarch appoints the majority leader to be PM
(in strict legal theory,
The queen can appoint whomever she likes)
- Not democratic
Ex. Linking the powers of the Crown (in terms of the person) to the monarch to what happens in
practice
Ex. Monarch gives Royal assent to legislation if it passes both houses of parliament (HoL+HoC)
Ex. collective cabinet responsibility
The government + cabinet should take responsibility + Publicly agree on their policies
Ex. If there is no confidence motion in the Government of the HoC + they lost
They are expected to resign
As they shape the style of parliamentary democracy
Transforming the legal structure to Westminster style
Innocence
Constitutional law
● Law relating to the proper structuring the government + Government powers
● Concerns the status of individuals with regards to the state
● laws that lay down acts of parliament
○ Most are not acts of parliament
● Not be rulings of courts (Through common law)
Add Headings (Format > Paragraph styles) and they will appear in your table of contents.
Royal Prerogative
International law
, Government
● Individual ministerial responsibility
Idea that ministers + governments are responsible for the actions within the ministry
They should resign if things go wrong
● collective cabinet responsibility
Idea that ministers + governments all publicly agree on policies + articulate policy
Even if they don't personally agree
Problems:
Leaks of information from cabinet meetings
- Undermines collective cabinet responsibility
- Implying dissent
Crown
● A particular institution that relates to the structure of government
● Overall party which powers of the state are vested
● Historically, specific sets of concepts related to the monarchy that have been transferred
effectively to;
○ Legal structure of government
○ Whole organisation political structure of government
Power
● Central to the very notion of government + policies
● Power is distributed in considerable significance to
○ The PM
○ The cabinet
○ The elite
■ People motivated by promoting their own interests + Disproportionately
influence affairs
○ The state
■ Special status
● Actions of Government have unique authority + must be judged by principles of legality
What makes these powers legitimate
Legal Process + Challenges
1. Judicial review
The legal mechanism to challenge decisions of the state
2. Tribunal system
Set up as an alternative to quit dealing with decisions of the welfare states
Largely, not exclusively
+ Now become more similar to court structure
Ex. Employment tribunals
3. Write to the employes
, & local councillors
- Not legal
4. More
Democracy
● Affairs might be influenced within the political system by
○ Constitutional availability to elect
■ Representatives to influence government
○ Decisions on behalf of its own constituents
● There needs to be a free pass for an extra standard of accountability
○ - why the press is referred to as the fourth estate
● Aspects of constitutional law look at systems that embody + aspire to be deocratic
● Notion of participatory democracy that there is more to be a democracy than voting in a
general election such as;
○ Periodic elections where the people vote
○ Participate more actively in the process of government
○ Population that has access to information + good education
■ + democracy can only flourish if the people are well educated
■ & to participate more effectively
Problems:
● Exercise of power from unelected judges is inconsistent with a democracy
○ + untrue,
■ expertise of an independent judiciary is an important strand of the
structuring of the government
■ There are cheques & balances on the exercise of the power of the
government to make sure its consistent with the
● Principles of legality
Legal idea that requires all law to be clear, ascertainable, +
non-retrospective
In accordance to the RoL
● Legitimacy
Powers that emanate from democratic process
● Fairness
UK Constitution
● Law that determines the limitations of the actions in government
● In practice, that there is no higher order law enforced by a constitutional court
● In cases of dispute, the document of the written constitution is followed + complied with
○ Interpretation,
Implications of having an unwritten constitution is that it will be the supreme court
even if there are acts of parliament
They will be under the constitution
● Acts of parliament
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