UK Constitutional Law Association

Joel Hames and Emma-Jane Faulkner: Frustrating Liberty: Habeas Corpus, the Right to Trial, and Palestine Action Remand Prisoners Introduction ‘It manifestly appeareth, that no man ought be imprisoned but for some certain cause: and these words, Ad subjiciend’ Et recipiend, prove that cause must be shewed: for otherwise how c…

Joel Hames and Emma-Jane Faulkner: Frustrating Liberty: Habeas Corpus, the Right to Trial, and Palestine Action Remand Prisoners ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/02/09/j...

Mike Gordon: The Mandelson Scandal and the Prime Minister: Investigating a Breach of the Ministerial Code The scandal erupting in relation to the latest revelations about Peter Mandelson’s  relationship with the multi-millionaire convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison awa…

Mike Gordon: The Mandelson Scandal and the Prime Minister: Investigating a Breach of the Ministerial Code ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/02/05/m...

Announcements: Public Law Lecture 2026/ Public Law Call for Guest Editors Public Law Lecture 2026:  The 2026 annual Public Law lecture will be delivered by Lord Justice Singh on the topic “Substantive Principles of Public Law: What Happened…

Announcements: Public Law Lecture 2026/ Public Law Call for Guest Editors ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/30/a...

Announcement: UKCLA Blog Editorial Team Professor Mike Gordon is stepping down as one of the editors of the UK Constitutional Law Association Blog, having served in the role for the last six years. Se-shauna and I would like to thank Mik…

Announcement: UKCLA Blog Editorial Team ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/28/a...

Nathan Whetton: Civil Disobedience, Protest and the Jury Trial Reforms On 2 December 2025, the Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced significant reforms to criminal trials in England and Wales. Defending his proposals on the BBC Sunday progra…

Nathan Whetton: Civil Disobedience, Protest and the Jury Trial Reforms ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/21/n...

Ananya Kumar-Banerjee: The Tameside Duty Under the Adults At Risk Policy In addition to challenging the role of the European Court of Human Rights in immigration issues, the current Secretary of State for the Home Department (“SSHD”) has proposed limits to the dome…

Ananya Kumar-Banerjee: The Tameside Duty Under the Adults At Risk Policy ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/19/a...

Hal McNulty: Forgetting Our Democratic Settlement: Lammy’s Plan to Curb Jury Trials “I honestly think if I hadn’t had those normal people to basically say, ‘You gotta be joking, no way did this guy do anything wrong’, I’d be finished” (recent defendant Jamie Michael, commenting on…

Hal McNulty: Forgetting Our Democratic Settlement: Lammy’s Plan to Curb Jury Trials ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/13/h...

Paul O’Connell: Anticipatory Repression and the Proscription of Palestine Action The proscription of Palestine Action in July 2025 represents more than an aggressive application of counter-terrorism law. It reveals a broader, qualitative shift in the British state’s approach to…

Paul O’Connell: Anticipatory Repression and the Proscription of Palestine Action ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/12/p...

UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table – 14th January 2026 UCL, January 14th 2026 UKCLA Annual General Meeting This is a reminder that the UKCLA Annual General Meeting will be held in person at 12.15 pm on Wednesday 14th of January 2026 in the Keeton Room,…

UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table – 14th January 2026 ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/01/09/u...

Chris Rowe: Human rights as ceiling: the government’s asylum reform proposals When the government announces a ‘crackdown’ or some new tough policy on immigration or asylum, it is important to recognise that what this means (at most) is that migrants will be treated in accord…

Chris Rowe: Human rights as ceiling: the government’s asylum reform proposals ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/19/c...

Anurag Deb, Colin Murray and Gabriel Tan: Legacy Issues: In re Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [2025] UKSC 47 Introduction It is a rare case where the UK Government initiates a judicial review against an independent public body. The Thompson case is just such a case. The Secretary of State for Northern Ire…

Anurag Deb, Colin Murray and Gabriel Tan: Legacy Issues: In re Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [2025] UKSC 47 ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/18/a...

UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table UCL, January 14th 2026 UKCLA Annual General Meeting The UKCLA Annual General Meeting will be held in person at 12.15 pm on Wednesday 14th of January 2026 in the Keeton Room, Bentham House, Universi…

UKCLA Annual General Meeting and Round Table ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/16/u...

Christmas Break The UKCLA blog will be on its annual break over the Christmas period – the blog will be closed from Thursday 18th December 2025 and will re-open on Monday 5th January 2026. Any final posts for this…

Christmas Break ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/12/c...

Catriona Mullay: A Fresh Start, the Old Tradition: Sovereignty and the Scottish Constitutional Imaginary Recently, the Scottish Government published A Fresh Start with Independence, restating the case for autonomy and outlining aspects of the prospective Scottish state. Despite the narrative of renewa…

Catriona Mullay: A Fresh Start, the Old Tradition: Sovereignty and the Scottish Constitutional Imaginary ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/11/c...

Marianne Holbrook: Should Decisions of the Attorney General be Judicially Reviewable? In July 2025, the Divisional Court in R (Campbell) v Attorney General [2025] EWHC 1653 (Admin), held that “there is a category of functions of the Attorney General which are immune from review on a…

Marianne Holbrook: Should Decisions of the Attorney General be Judicially Reviewable? ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/10/m...

Kirsty Hughes: The Implications of the Court of Appeal’s Judgment on ‘Family Life’ for the Government’s Immigration Proposals On 27 November 2025 the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in IA v SHHD [2025] EWCA Civ 1516 clarifying the correct test to be used when determining whether there is ‘family life’ in immigrat…

Kirsty Hughes: The Implications of the Court of Appeal’s Judgment on ‘Family Life’ for the Government’s Immigration Proposals ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/10/k...

Alexander Baxter: Common Law Post-ECHR: What Lord Briggs’ Anniversary Lecture Tells Us Introduction At the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Human Rights Act, Lord Briggs of Westbourne delivered a lecture that quietly advanced a vision of what a post-HRA constitutional framework mig…

Alexander Baxter: Common Law Post-ECHR: What Lord Briggs’ Anniversary Lecture Tells Us ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/09/a...

Veronika Fikfak: ECHR Reform: A Danger of Contagion in Relation to Article 3 On Wednesday 10 December, which is also Human Rights Day, Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe will meet in Strasbourg to discuss how the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) should …

Veronika Fikfak: ECHR Reform: A Danger of Contagion in Relation to Article 3 ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/09/v...

Alex Schwartz: Recent Attempts to Curb Judicial Power in the United Kingdom The era of Conservative Party government from 2015–2024 was one of great constitutional turmoil in the United Kingdom. In addition to (and partly because of) the controversies surrounding the UK’s …

Alex Schwartz: Recent Attempts to Curb Judicial Power in the United Kingdom ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/08/a...

Eleni Frantziou and Anurag Deb: Direct Effect, Disapplication, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Still Together in Northern Ireland after Dillon? Between 14 and 16 October 2025, the UK Supreme Court heard the appeal of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (‘SOSNI’) against the Dillon decision of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal (‘…

Eleni Frantziou and Anurag Deb: Direct Effect, Disapplication, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Still Together in Northern Ireland after Dillon? ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/04/e...

Stewart Duncan: Reforming Holyrood’s Committees: A Constitutional Perspective Committees, scrutiny and the distribution of power at Holyrood From when the Scottish Parliament was first established, much was asked of its committee system. In a unicameral legislature, without …

Stewart Duncan: Reforming Holyrood’s Committees: A Constitutional Perspective ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/27/s...

Kirsty Hughes: Immigration and proposals to amend Article 8 ECHR Backlash against the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) is heavily driven by immigration and is often a direct reaction to it. This is not a new phenomen…

Kirsty Hughes: Immigration and proposals to amend Article 8 ECHR ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/19/k...

Mark Bennett and Joe Tomlinson: Life Events and Administrative Justice Administrative justice has traditionally been evaluated through the prism of categories constructed by the state, usually by reference to the functions it pursues—taxation, immigration, education, …

Mark Bennett and Joe Tomlinson: Life Events and Administrative Justice ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/17/m...

Nathan Whetton: Legislating against concealing identity at protests The Crime and Policing Bill was introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2025. The Bill builds on the Labour party manifesto commitment to “take back our streets”, and contains a wide-ranging scope …

Nathan Whetton: Legislating against concealing identity at protests ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/12/n...

Richard Martin: Counting Cumulative Impact: More Public Order Law Additions Following the horrific antisemitic attack at a Manchester synagogue in October, the government has announced plans to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The proposed changes wou…

Richard Martin: Counting Cumulative Impact: More Public Order Law Additions ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/22/r...

Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers The Attorney General is one of the most powerful and influential officers in the British Constitution. They are the chief adviser of the Crown on points of law and the chief counsel for the governm…

Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/20/c...

Dane Luo: The Anomalous Islands of Public Interest Functions Immune from Judicial Review The Attorney-General is an ancient office that is endowed with a very wide range of discretionary powers and functions. Some of those are classed as ‘public interest functions’. These derive from s…

Dane Luo: The Anomalous Islands of Public Interest Functions Immune from Judicial Review ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/14/d...

Brice Dickson: The meaning of ‘civil rights’ in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement From 14 to 16 October 2025 the UK Supreme Court is due to hear an important case on the extent to which the Windsor Framework – the new name for the revised Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol to t…

Brice Dickson: The meaning of ‘civil rights’ in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/13/b...

Conor Crummey: The Principle of Legality, the Definition of ‘Terrorism’, and Palestine Action Two judgments have so far been handed down in the matter of R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; the challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as …

Conor Crummey: The Principle of Legality, the Definition of ‘Terrorism’, and Palestine Action ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/13/c...

Alan Greene: Bringing facts to a vibes fight: Kayfabe and debates on the UK and the ECHR It is now 25 years since the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) entered into force and far from this endurance cementing its legitimacy, the judicial protection of human rights in the UK finds itself in t…

Alan Greene: Bringing facts to a vibes fight: Kayfabe and debates on the UK and the ECHR ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/09/a...