Factortame Revisited and the Constitution Reimagined: The UK Supreme Court Takes its First Ride on the HS2 Rail-Line
[2015] 5 UK Supreme Court Annual Review 157
University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 52/2015
20 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2015 Last revised: 28 Aug 2015
Date Written: June 1, 2015
Abstract
This paper considers the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in the HS2 case. It argues that notwithstanding the importance of the individual technical conclusions ultimately reached on the specific questions raised, the primary significance of this decision derives instead from the important and undoubtedly welcome reasoning of the Justices concerning the relationship between the UK legal order and that of the European Union ('the EU'). This is most notable in regards its analysis of the extent of the supremacy enjoyed by the latter over the former, but also in so far as it suggests a more nuanced understanding of the constitutional model that is presently understood to exist in the UK than is ordinarily the case.
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