Mark Elliott

On 12 April 2027, @paolosandro.bsky.social and I are holding a one-day conference examining the UK constitution's vulnerability and resilience at a time of particular challenge, given domestic and global political trends. To be notified when booking opens, register at: forms.gle/Ua8UgP1yD3TB...

New post Constitutional Law 101: Is the UK’s constitution too informal? publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/10/23/c...

The first in a new series of posts – 'Constitutional Law 101' – that I will be publishing over the course of the academic year. A (hopefully) accessible introduction to the subject for Law students and others. publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/10/16/c...

Thank you to the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) for inviting me to address their 44th Annual Course on 'Shifting Politics and Legal Realities'. In my lecture, I considered whether the UK constitution's idiosyncrasies might make it peculiarly vulnerable to the forces of populism.

New article: Mark Elliott and Nicholas Kilford, "The Relational Principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty" SSRN draft available to download; forthcoming in Public Law publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/07/21/t... @nearlydoctornick.bsky.social

We are proud that Catz Fellow Hend Hanafy (2021) led the coordination of the first official visit by a delegation from the #Egyptian Court of Cassation – the highest court in #Egypt – to the judiciary of England & Wales. Read our report: caths.cam.ac.uk/judi... Faculty of Law

@profmarkelliott.bsky.social Over a century on, precedents such as A Douglas-Home and P Gordon Walker seem like the dying embers of British constitutional history when the Prime Minister was permitted to lead the government from outside the House of Commons publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/26/t...

New post The Prime Minister as an MP: A postscript on historical precedent and constitutional convention publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/26/t...

🚨Could the Parliament Acts be used to pass assisted dying? As I say in this clip: 🔵 Never previously used on a PMB 🔵 But explicitly intended to apply to PMBs, not just govt bills 🔵 In practice, not straightforward to do, but possible

My blog, www.publiclawforeveryone.com, now features "Not by AI" badging. For more information on the Not by AI initiative, see: notbyai.fyi/not-by-ai-90....

Berkeley's new AI policy is laudable. Its post-plagiarism conception of AI misuse prohibits "conceptualisation" and "outlining". The guiding principle – that thinking remains the sine qua non of good lawyering (and of a quality legal education) – is surely right. www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

I think it's really difficult to understate the likely consequences this kind of revisionism will have going forward, for the rule of law in this country. And for some reason our judiciary has decided to dismantle its own power on the cusp of a likely authoritarian Reform government. Maddening.

Excellent piece on the continued judicial gutting of the common law. Can't help but note the apparent radical decline in the constitutional role of the judiciary since I was sat in Professor Elliott's lectures less than a decade ago.

Ismailov v Foreign Secretary: Constitutional revisionism and the principle of legality publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/19/i... Alarming post from @profmarkelliott.bsky.social on current trends in constitutional law.

Interesting piece on whether PM must be an MP, partly responding to my analysis (publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/14/d...). Key Q is whether precedent from 1960s remains persuasive. I doubt it, given 60+ years of now consistent practice. Convention flexes as practice & political mores develop.

New from @profmarkelliott.bsky.social on how the principle of legality is being treated restrictively in the High Court, following positions set by the UKSC justices. On multiple fronts the horizons of the UK judiciary's constitutional role are shrinking: publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/19/i...

On which now see: publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/19/i...

New post Ismailov v Foreign Secretary: Constitutional revisionism and the principle of legality publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/19/i...

The gutting of the principle of legality – part of a much wider trend of constitutional regression in the senior courts' case law – continues apace. www.judiciary.uk/judgments/sa...

Thank goodness Cambridge's Judge Business School might soon be providing “leadership development” and “innovation management” to the Saudi regime. Perhaps the "innovations" will include respect for basic human rights, including due process? www.theguardian.com/education/20...

A very helpful analysis of the Chisinau Declaration.

New post From Chişinău to Makerfield: The Labour Party, populism and the politics of triangulation publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/18/f...

New post: Does the Prime Minister have to be an MP? publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/14/d...

Admitting students with the greatest academic potential from a broad range of backgrounds is a key part of our new 5-year strategic plan: caths.cam.ac.uk/exce.... Since the plan was published in January 2026, we have engaged ~2,400 students from across the UK: caths.cam.ac.uk/wide... @can.ac.uk

New post – The fall of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: A constitutional outrage? publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/04/24/t...

Naturally @profmarkelliott.bsky.social is quite right. There is nothing new or unconstitutional about powers to track EU measures by secondary legislation (s. 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 did that while we were in the EU and ministers of all stripes used it all the time)

Typically clear and thorough demolition by @profmarkelliott.bsky.social of the claim that the forthcoming Bill providing for alignment with EU law is constitutionally objectionable. Recommended to lawyers and non-lawyers alike. publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/04/13/t...

New post Some thoughts on the suggestion by pro-Brexit politicians that the government's proposal for "dynamic alignment" with EU rules would be a constitutional affront or would be an undemocratic subversion of the 2016 referendum. (It wouldn't.) publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/04/13/t...

Out today: The latest edition of The Constitution In Review by the United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group. Their latest report covers 1 Jul-1 Dec 2025 and is required reading for all with an in interest the UK's constitutional arrangements. Read it now at: consoc.org.uk/publications...

In this interview with the SCOTUS Blog, which launches its series on global apex courts, I reflect on the role of the UK Supreme Court and consider whether adjudication at this level in the UK is really as apolitical as we often assume it to be. www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-...

The Divisional Court has now issued but immediately suspended a quashing order regarding the proscription of Palestine Action. This results in precisely the situation anticipated by my post below: a proscription order that is unlawful according to the High Court but unquashed for the time being.

📢Registrations are open for our Open Day on 20 March. Come and learn about the course and admissions process, experience sample lectures and get a chance to chat with staff, students and alumni to see if it feels right for you! The event is free to attend: 🔗https://bit.ly/3Ojqsqk

In a new post on the Palestine Action case, I ask whether, given the High Court's conclusion that proscription was unlawful, the Metropolitan Police is right to say that the organisation remains a proscribed one. publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/02/17/i...

The High Court has held that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 was unlawful. This post explains the court's reasoning and discusses some potential weaknesses in it (bearing in mind the government has said it will appeal). publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/02/13/t...

"In Defence of Classical Administrative Law", by @philipmurraylaw and me, has now been published in the Cambridge Law Journal on FirstView. It is available via the following link (open access): doi.org/10.1017/S000...

A reminder, following the conviction of Jimmy Lai, that two senior British lawyers—a former Law Lord and a former Supreme Court President—continue to lend respectability to the Hong Kong legal system by sitting as non-permanent judges on its highest court. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

New post: Correcting the record on the ‘primacy’ of the House of Commons publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/12/15/c...

I'm grateful to the Sunday Times for publishing my letter on the constitutional role of the House of Lords, correcting the misleading impression created by an open letter signed by several former Cabinet Secretaries. www.thetimes.com/comment/lett...

My speech of today to NIHRC now published in full by Joshua Rozenberg: “The ECHR - the view from London and Strasbourg”

Lord Sales devoted a recent lecture on the principle of legality to responding to my critique of one of his judgments. Here, I argue that our disagreement ultimately turns on sharply contrasting, and increasingly consequential, visions of the constitution publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/12/07/t...

Lord Sales devoted a recent lecture on the principle of legality to responding to my critique of one of his judgments. Here, I argue that our disagreement ultimately turns on sharply contrasting, and increasingly consequential, visions of the constitution publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/12/07/t...