Crime & Justice
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The Law of the Constitution before the Court
John FinnisThe Supreme Court’s prorogation judgment, Miller/Cherry, was contrary to the settled law of the constitution. This paper, which complements and completes an earlier critique, refutes attempts to deny the judgment’s revolutionary character, attempts that cannot be squared with key facts about prorogation in the run-up to the Bill of Rights 1689, with Erskine May’s Law and Practice of Parliamentary, and with the primary 20th century textbook on the law of the constitution. The paper details the factual misjudgements and injustices at the heart of the Supreme Court’s judgment, and confirms the wisdom of the law of non-justiciability that the judgment casts aside.

Justice that protects
Richard WaltonPrisons exist to keep the public safe yet in recent years the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service has shown that they are not capable of properly managing the most dangerous offenders. This paper, by Richard Walton – a former Head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command – argues that it is time for the Home Secretary, and the Home Office, to supervise prisons as they did until 2007. The Ministry of Justice as it is currently configured should be abolished, with a new Lord Chancellor’s Department replacing it to work solely on courts and justice policy, at the same time enshrining in law and practice the independence of the judiciary.

Protest, Parliament and the rule of law
Richard WaltonWith the rhetoric inside the House of Commons ratcheted up to fever pitch this week, it is hardly surprising that protest outside Parliament became equally as chaotic and disruptive.
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Gunnar Beck: Beware of Germany’s proposal for a new EU-UK transnational court
Dr Gunnar Beck — a Visiting Scholar at Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project — responds to German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel’s apparent signal that the EU might be willing to ‘relax some of its more extravagant demands’ in the Brexit negotiations. Beck concludes that while Gabriel’s proposal for a transnational EU-UK court is a ‘promising starting point for the negotiations’, the UK ‘needs assurance that its future legal relationship with the EU [will be] governed by the greatest possible legal certainty and overseen by a court which ensures that words mean what they say and not simply whatever it may be that best suits the European Union’.

The European Court of Justice is not an impartial court and has no role to play in post-Brexit EU-UK relations
Leading authority on EU Law, Dr Gunnar Beck (SOAS), writes for Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project to explain why, as a matter of law, Britain can leave the EU without any liability for any allegedly outstanding sums under the EU budget. Dr Beck dismantles Helena Kennedy QC’s suggestion in the Guardian last week that the EU Court of Justice should have a role in post-Brexit Britain

Derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights in Armed Conflict: Submission to the JCHR
As is now well known, Brexit does not affect the UK’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg will continue to be able to determine whether UK law and Government actions are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)…
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Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project responds to Government paper on European Court of Justice post-Brexit
Richard EkinsPolicy Exchange's Judicial Power Project responded to the paper released by the Government on leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice after Brexit. Visiting Fellow Dr Gunnar Beck writes in The Telegraph and Professor Richard Ekins, head of the Judicial Power Project, writes in The Spectator, while Senior Fellow Christopher Forsyth writes for CapX and Richard and Gunnar for ConservativeHome.

Policy Exchange Judicial Power Project’s letter to Financial Times Editor published
Richard Ekins and Professor Graham GeePolicy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project Head, Professor Richard Ekins and Professor Graham Gee wrote to the Financial Times in responce to a recent editorial, ‘Brexit places Britain’s judges in the line of fire’, explaining that it wrongly states that refusal to concede a continuing role for the European Court of Justice after Brexit creates a predicament for UK judges. Their letter, entitled ‘UK judges’ future looks robust, not fragile’ was published in the paper and online.

Policy Exchange reports featured on The House of Commons Library reading lists
Policy ExchangeThe House of Commons Library has published reading lists on two specific Brexit topics, both of which feature Policy Exchange reports
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