Faculty of law blogs / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Who Speaks for the State?

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2 Minutes

Frederick Wilmot-Smith argues that the real issue at stake in Miller is whether the legislature or the executive speaks for the State. He concludes that: 

one way to read the High Court’s decision is as an entrenchment of parliamentary powers, hard won from the Crown and justified by principles of representative democracy. In light of the executive’s failure to defend the judiciary in the aftermath of the decision, their incoherent proposals for leaving the EU, and broader concerns about the democratic legitimacy of Parliament, no one should feel entirely sanguine if the government’s appeal succeeds.

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