Reconceptualising prerogative powers after Miller

In the third paper, Gavin Phillipson will address some key questions raised but not resolved by the decisions in Miller and Bancoult (which concerned the exile of the Chagos Islanders). He will argue that, contrary to the traditional ‘residual‘ view, the prerogative is best seen today as a bundle of discrete powers, that this view best fits Miller itself and would have led to a different approach in Bancoult. It is further, not only preferable on Rule of Law grounds, but also resolves more satisfactorily the debate Miller raised about whether and when prerogative action may remove common law or statutory rights. He will contend that this conception, together with basic elements of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, also leads to the view that prerogative powers can be permanently abolished by legislation. He will explain how its adoption would require some modification of the most sophisticated model of the prerogative so far proposed (the Williams ‘Four Es‘ approach (2018)).



Time:  TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Speaker(s):   Gavin Phillipson
Panel:  Panel 79