Professor of Public Law, University of Cambridge. Fellow, St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Author of publiclawforeveryone.com
Cambridge, UK
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Thank you to the International Association of Law Libraries for inviting me to address their 44th Annual Course on 'Shifting Politics and Legal Realities'. I considered whether the UK constitution's idiosyncrasies might make it peculiarly vulnerable to the forces of populism.
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Mark Elliott retweeted
This building is on the site of the stables from which we get the expression 'a Hobson's choice'. Hobson, the stablekeeper, would give punters a choice of taking the next horse in the stalls or none at all.
The Hobson's building has been a home to generations of Catz students & almost 100yrs after it was built scaffolding is set to return to this corner of our site. Over 10 months, we're investing in a major refurbishment inside & out: caths.cam.ac.uk/hobsons-proj….
📸 Tim Rawle & archive
ALT View of St Catharine's College with the Hobson's building in the foreground
ALT A black and white photo of the Hobson's building encased in scaffolding
ALT A black and white photo of a building site at St Catharine's College showing the construction of the first floors of what would become the Hobson's building
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New article: Mark Elliott and Nicholas Kilford, "The Relational Principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty"
SSRN draft available to download; forthcoming in Public Law
publiclawforeveryone.com/202…
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I am appalled to hear this. Universities ought to be places that foster and celebrate robust debate, enabling students and scholars to engage with and challenge a wide range of lawful free speech. @michaelpforan is a fine scholar, whom @UniofOxford is lucky to have on its staff.
Due to escalating disruptive protests, I have decided to cancel the remainder of these lectures. This is deeply lamentable, but the disruption has undermined the academic nature of this series. Students shouldn't face bullying or harassment when attending academic events.
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This is an incredible new bursary paying tuition fees and a living allowance for an entire undergraduate degree @Catz_Cambridge for a student living in Scotland. Eligibility requirements in the link. Spread the word Scots!
With Highers wrapping up this week, students in Scotland have a chance to think about the future. Our Finlay Family Bursary covers undergrad tuition fees & living allowance to encourage Scottish students to apply for & take up the offer of a place at Catz: caths.cam.ac.uk/finlay-famil…
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New #dataprotection and #commonlaw systems research position based @TrinityHallCamb & @UCamCIPIL @cambridgelaw. Do you have a relevant legal background & strong research skills? Please do apply! Deadline 22 June. Details at lnkd.in/esbVcMR6
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That AI isn't yet "good enough" to mark students' essays ought to be beside the point. Outsourcing such tasks to AI is fundamentally incompatible with the intellectual engagement between student and professor that should be central to higher education. /1
cam.ac.uk/stories/ai-univers…
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Academic writing isn't about producing "content". It's about thinking: grappling with ideas, refining arguments. Students should be encouraged to do that now more than ever. They are entitled, in return, to genuine intellectual encounter with a professor who marks their work. /2
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New post
The Prime Minister as an MP: A postscript on historical precedent and constitutional convention
publiclawforeveryone.com/202…
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Mark Elliott retweeted
🚨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
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Mark Elliott retweeted
Well it’s not everyday you receive a letter from 10 Downing Street. I’m most grateful to @middletemple for forwarding this on to me. What a great end to the week. Thank you very much for the endorsement. @Keir_Starmer @10DowningStreet
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My blog, publiclawforeveryone.com, now features "Not by AI" badging. For more information on the Not by AI initiative, see: notbyai.fyi/not-by-ai-90-rul….
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This is the way.
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This is very interesting: a post-plagiarism conception of AI misuse that also prohibits its use for "conceptualising" and "outlining". The guiding principle – that "*thinking* remains the sine qua non of good lawyering (and of a quality legal education)" – is surely right.
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Challenging sanctions: public law, Saini-style administrativecourtblog.word…
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Interesting piece on whether PM must be an MP, partly responding to my analysis (publiclawforeveryone.com/202…). 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.
Dane Luo: Andy Burnham and the Constitution – The Conventions on the Appointment of the Prime Minister ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026…
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Mark Elliott retweeted
We gave a family of ducks the VIP treatment through Main Court yesterday. Each spring ducklings hatch across Cambridge & porters guide them towards the river – a tradition that we would never want to duck out of!
Music: Fluffing a Duck" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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On which now see: publiclawforeveryone.com/202…
The gutting of the principle of legality – part of a much wider trend of constitutional regression in the senior courts' case law – continues apace.
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Really important post on the worrying ways in which the principle of legality is now being used by the courts.
New post
Ismailov v Foreign Secretary: Constitutional revisionism and the principle of legality
publiclawforeveryone.com/202…
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