The National Security Constitution

by Paul F Scott, Ben Saul, Liora Lazarus

Overview

This book addresses the various ways in which modern approaches to the protection of national security have impacted upon the constitutional order of the United Kingdom. It outlines and assesses the constitutional significance of the three primary elements of the United Kingdom's response to the possibility of terrorism and other phenomena that threaten the security of the state: the body of counter-terrorism legislation that has grown up in the last decade and a half; the evolving law of investigatory powers; and, to the extent relevant to the domestic constitution, the law and practice governing international military action and co-operation. Following on from this, the author demonstrates that considerations of national security - as a good to be protected and promoted in contemporary Britain - are reflected not merely in the existence of discrete bodies of law by which it is protected at home and abroad, but simultaneously and increasingly leaked into other areas of public law. Elements of the constitution which are not directly and inherently linked to national security nevertheless become (by both accident and design) implicated in the state's national security endeavours, with significant and at times far-reaching consequences for the constitutional order generally. A renewed and strengthened concern for national security since September 2001 has, it is argued, dragged into its orbit a variety of constitutional phenomena and altered them in its image, giving rise to what we might call a national security constitution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509941155
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/01/2020
Series:	Hart Studies in Security and Justice
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Paul F Scott is Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Constitution and National Security
I. The United Kingdom’s Constitutional Order
II. The National Security Constitution
III. Structure
IV. The National Security Council
1. The Counter-Terrorism Constitution
I. Introduction
II. CONTEST and the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre
III. The Role of the Criminal Law in Counter-Terrorism
IV. Counter-Terrorism Law up to and Including the Terrorism Act 2000
V. The 2000 Act and the Definition of Terrorism
VI. Obsolete Counter-Terrorism Mechanisms
VII. Current Counter-Terrorism Mechanisms
VIII. Themes of the Counter-Terrorism Constitution
IX. Conclusion
2. Investigatory Powers and the Constitution
I. The Constitution and Investigatory Powers
II. The Rule(s) of Law
III. Investigatory Powers
IV. Conclusion 3
3. The Military Constitution
I. Introduction
II. The Place of the Military in the Constitution
III. The Use of Force in Constitutional Law and Practice
IV. Legal Accountability for the Use of Force Abroad
V. Drones
VI. Conclusion
4. Citizenship
I. Introduction
II. Citizenship and the Right to Travel
III. Immigration Law and National Security
IV. Citizenship and National Security
V. Citizenship, Passports and the Right to Travel
VI. Conclusion
5. Secrecy
I. Secrecy in the National Security Constitution
II. Secrecy in the Courts
III. Executive Secrecy
IV. Conclusion: Secrecy in the National Security Constitution
6. Justiciability
I. Introduction
II. Justiciability (and Foreign Affairs) Generally
III. Foreign Act of State
IV. Crown Act of State
V. Conclusion: The Courts and the Executive in the National Security Constitution
7. Sovereignty
I. Introduction
II. From National Security to International Security
III. The International Pursuit of National Security and its Consequences
IV. Conclusion: The Constitutional Consequences of the Internationalisation of National Security