Democracy as the legitimating condition in the UK Constitution

Murkens, Jo Eric Khushal ORCID: 0000-0001-8897-8860 (2018) Democracy as the legitimating condition in the UK Constitution. Legal Studies, 38 (1). 42 - 58. ISSN 0261-3875

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Abstract

The UK Constitution is either theorised as a political constitution that is premised on the Westminster model of government or as a legal constitution that rests on moral principles, which the common law is said to protect. Both models conceive of democracy in procedural terms, and not in normative terms. However, the democratic legitimacy of laws stems from a complex constellation of conditions that no longer involves popular or parliamentary sovereignty alone. In this article, I break with the traditional account that bases law-making authority on the condition of procedural democracy. Instead, I argue for a normative conception of democracy that conditions parliamentary authority. I show that failure to do so amounts to a glaring omission in certain cases.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-stud...
Additional Information:	© 2018 The Society of Legal Scholars
Divisions:	Law
Subjects:	K Law > KD England and Wales
Date Deposited:	22 May 2017 11:59
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 21:30
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/78130

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