The Oxford Putney Debates — The Sovereignty of Parliament

 

16.00–17.00 BST, Wednesday 21 October

Keynote Lecture: The Future of Parliamentary Sovereignty in a Democratic Constitution

Michael Gordon, University of Liverpool

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16.00–17.00 GMT, Wednesday 28 October

Debate 1: Parliamentary Sovereignty: History and People

WATCH THE VIDEO OF PANELLISTS' PROPOSITIONS BEFORE ATTENDING THE LIVE DEBATE

 

Chair: Joshua Rozenberg, the UK's pre-eminent legal commentator

Panellists:

Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Queen Mary University of London  

Questioning sovereignty again: Why the history of Parliament’s relations with the British Empire, Scotland, and Ireland reveals an unsettled sovereignty

Denis Galligan, University of Oxford    

Constitutional origins of parliamentary sovereignty

Vernon Bogdanor, Kings College, London  

Parliamentary sovereignty and the people

Richard Clary, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York 

An alternative to parliamentary sovereignty: The checks and balances of the US constitution, and why that path was chosen

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16.00–17.00 GMT, Wednesday 4 November

Debate 2: Parliamentary Sovereignty: Executive, Civil Service, Special Advisers, Political Parties, and the Future

WATCH THE VIDEO OF PANELLISTS' PROPOSITIONS BEFORE ATTENDING THE LIVE DEBATE

 

Chair: Joshua Rozenberg

Panellists:

Robert Hazell CBE, Constitution Unit, University College London    

Parliamentary sovereignty, the civil service, and special advisers

Alison Young, University of Cambridge    

Does parliamentary sovereignty belong to the legislature or the executive?

Robert Saunders, Queen Mary University of London  

Parliamentary sovereignty or party sovereignty

Nick Barber, University of Oxford

After parliamentary sovereignty

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16.00–17.00 GMT, Wednesday 11 November

Debate 3: Parliamentary Sovereignty: Courts, Rights, and the International Order

WATCH THE VIDEO OF PANELLISTS' PROPOSITIONS BEFORE ATTENDING THE LIVE DEBATE

 

Chair: Joshua Rozenberg

Panellists:

Sir Stephen Sedley, University of Oxford

Parliamentary sovereignty and the courts

Richard Bellamy, University College London

The court of democracy: Parliamentary sovereignty and the political constitution

Helen Mountfield, University of Oxford

Taking back control: what does the sovereignty of parliament mean now? 

Geraldine van Bueren, British Institute of International and Comparative Law  

Parliamentary sovereignty: The artificial constraint on combatting poverty and providing social justice

 

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16.00–17.00 GMT, Wednesday 18 November

Final Debate: Parliamentary Sovereignty in Perspective

Chair: Denis Galligan, University of Oxford

Panellists:

Sir Adam Roberts, University of Oxford 

Meg Russell, The Constitution Unit, University College London

A.C. Grayling, New College of the Humanities

Catherine Barnard, University of Cambridge

David Vines, University of Oxford

 

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