The British constitution and the Irish question

Loughlin, Martin (2024) The British constitution and the Irish question. King's Law Journal, 35 (3). ISSN 0961-5768 (In Press)

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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
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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