UK free to disenfranchise citizens resident abroad
The claimants appealed against rejection of their challenges to the 2015 Act. As British citizens who had lived abroad for more than fifteen years, they were not to be allowed to vote.
Held: The claim failed. The Act was not in breach of European law supporting freedom of movement. The EU had recognised that the decision of a Member State to withdraw is an exercise of national sovereignty which is governed by its own constitutional arrangements. The Act fell outside the scope of European law. Nor did any right at common law override the precedence given to an Act of Parliament.
Lord Dyson MR said that ‘Parliament agreed to join the EU by exercising sovereign powers untrammelled by EU law and I think it would expect to be able to leave the EU in the exercise of the same untrammelled sovereign power’.
Judges:
Lord Dyson MR, Elias, King LJJ
Citations:
C1/2016/1796, [2016] EWCA Civ 469, [2016] WLR(D) 273, [2016] HRLR 14, [2016] 3 WLR 1196, [2017] QB 226, [2016] 3 CMLR 23
Links:
Bailii, Judiciary, JGU Summary, WLRD
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Shindler and Another v Chancellor of The Duchy of Lancaster and Another Admn 28-Apr-2016
The claimants challenged the franchise for the forthcoming European Referendum which excluded them rom voting on the basis that they were not resident within the UK and had neot been registered to vote here for more than five years.
Held: ‘1) . .
Cited by:
Cited – McCord, Re Judicial Review QBNI 28-Oct-2016
The claimant made application for judicial review of the stated intention of the Government of the UK to issue an article 50 notice to leave the EU, by means of the use of the royal Prerogative. They said that any use of the royal prerogative had . .
Cited – Miller and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Exiting The European Union SC 24-Jan-2017
Parliament’s Approval if statute rights affected
In a referendum, the people had voted to leave the European Union. That would require a notice to the Union under Article 50 TEU. The Secretary of State appealed against an order requiring Parliamentary approval before issuing the notice, he saying . .
Cited – Micula and Others v Romania SC 19-Feb-2020
The appellant sought to enforce a international arbitration award against the respondent. The award was made under an arrangement which later became unlawful on Romania’s accession to the EU, and Romania obtained s stay pending resolution by the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Elections, European, Constitutional
Leading Case
Updated: 21 June 2022; Ref: scu.564452