Parliament’s role in upholding the rule of law
Tuesday 22 April 2025
Tomorrow the House of Lords Constitution Committee will continue its inquiry into the rule of law by hearing evidence on the theme of parliament’s role in upholding the rule of law.
The session will take place at 10.30am on Wednesday 23 April 2025 and can be followed live on Parliament TV.
Giving evidence will be:
- Dr Ronan Cormacain, Consultant Legislative Counsel, member of the working group of experts on democratic law-making at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Editor of the Theory and Practice of Legislation legal journal
- Dr Ruth Fox, Director & Head of Research at the Hansard Society
- Sir Stephen Laws KC, Senior Research Fellow on Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project and former First Parliamentary Counsel
Topics the committee is likely to cover include:
- Characteristics of legislation that is consistent with the rule of law
- Whether the law is clear and accessible in the UK
- Whether legislative practices can challenge the rule of law
- Whether the significant use of delegated powers challenges the rule of law
- How the conflict between parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law can be resolved when legislation challenges the rule of law
- Whether parliamentary scrutiny of legislation is effective at identifying and resolving rule of law concerns
- Whether rule of law considerations need to be further embedded into the legislative process
- Parliament’s role in upholding the rule of law other than through the legislative process.
