Loughlin, Martin (2024) The British constitution and the Irish question. King's Law Journal, 35 (3). ISSN 0961-5768 (In Press)
Text (The British Constitution and the Irish Question)
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Abstract
Constitutional analysis in Britain has been stymied by systematic avoidance of the Irish question. This includes a failure to acknowledge the singularity of the Anglo-Irish union, refusal to see that the Irish home rule movement exposed parliamentary sovereignty as a formal legal principle that was obliged to bend to political realities, and the fudging of Northern Ireland’s status as devolutionary in form but a Dominion in practice. Constitutional renewal now depends on recognising that Northern Ireland is, from a constitutional perspective, not part of the British state. Over a century ago, Maitland noted that the British were seeking to get by without a concept of the state, or the nation, or the public. Recognising such a state and accepting that political authority must be assumed to derive from the British people has become the precondition of democratic constitutional renewal.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | © 2024 |
Divisions: | Law |
Subjects: | K Law |
Date Deposited: | 30 Jul 2024 15:12 |
Last Modified: | 14 Sep 2024 10:12 |
URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124420 |
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