Alexander Horne and Gavin Drewry (ed), Parliament and the Law

Author
DOI10.3366/elr.2019.0564
Published date01 May 2019
Date01 May 2019
Pages291-293

The book under review is an edited collection of essays written by leading experts in the field, which seeks to explore the impact of the law on the development of the Westminster Parliament. Ever since the 2016 referendum on British membership of the European Union (“EU”), Brexit has dominated public law discourse, and will no doubt continue to do so long after the UK formally leaves the EU. The Westminster Parliament has often found itself at the centre of this discourse, in no small part due to the disagreement across the UK on what its role is or should be within the Brexit process. As a consequence of this, one might have expected Brexit to feature heavily in this new edition of the book. However, although Brexit will no doubt form a significant part of any future edition, the book's editors, Alexander Horne and Gavin Drewry, made the bold decision to forego any detailed analysis of the implications of Brexit on the Westminster Parliament in this edition (3). The book instead balances its historical overview of the development of key parliamentary principles and procedures with much needed coverage of contemporary constitutional developments which have occurred since the first edition in 2013 but which have otherwise been overshadowed by Brexit.

The book is divided thematically into four parts. Part one, as with the first edition, examines “Privilege, Exclusive Cognisance and Conduct”. Although up-to-date, it is a...

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