Procedural Innovation and the Surreptitious Creation of Judicial Supremacy in the United Kingdom

Campbell, D. and Allan, J. (2019) Procedural Innovation and the Surreptitious Creation of Judicial Supremacy in the United Kingdom. Journal of Law and Society, 46 (3). pp. 347-366. ISSN 0263-323X

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Abstract

In Re an Application by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review, the Supreme Court made unfavourable comments about Northern Irish abortion legislation in a way which showed complete disregard for elements of civil procedure which are a foundation of proper adjudication within the context of respect for democracy. This was but the latest of a number of cases in which the senior judiciary has made unaccountable procedural innovations furthering judicial supremacy in defiance of the sovereignty of Parliament. In addition to Re Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, two other of these cases, Simmons v. Castle and R (Miller and another) v. The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, will be discussed. These cases reveal an effort to create judicial supremacy by means which we are obliged to call surreptitious.