Ec Membership and Judicialization of British Politics

by Nicol, Danny

• ISBN13: 9780199247790
• ISBN10: 019924779X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Law Lords in 'Factortame' based their acceptance of the supremacy of European Community law on an 'entirely voluntary' surrender of sovereignty by Parliament. This interdisciplinary study tells the story, from the parliamentary perspective, of how Parliament's sovereignty came to be lost. It charts the evolution of MPs' constitutional understandings by analyzing the parliamentary debates on UK attempts to join the Community, the passage of the 1972 Act and the approval of subsequent Treaty revisions. The book's pervasive theme is the transformation from a UK constitution based onpolitics to one based increasingly on law. It assesses the extent to which MPs understood that EC membership entailed a shift in power from legislature to courts. This is a study with profound implications for the legitimacy of Parliament as a law-making body.The book also offers two comparisons. First the understandings of British MPs are contrasted with those of Irish parliamentarians, to establish whether Ireland's more law-based constitutional culture had an effect on politicians' understandings of EC implications. Secondly, the book analyses thehistory of the Bill of Rights debate culminating in the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998, to investigate whether (and why) themes of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial empowerment were clearer in this context than in the EC context.

Author Biography

Danny Nicol is Senior Lecturer in Law, London Guildhall University.

Table of Contents

Table of Cases	xiii
Introduction	1	(22)
The United Kingdom's First Two Attempts to Join the EEC	23	(34)
The 1971 White Paper and the Vote on the Principle of Entry	57	(19)
The Passage of the European Communities Bill	76	(41)
The Irish Comparison	117	(31)
From Accession to Factortame	148	(30)
Factortame, EOC, and Maastricht	178	(50)
The Human Rights Comparison	228	(24)
Conclusion	252	(15)
Bibliography	267	(16)
Index	283