Utopia, you are standing in it!

Since the 1980s, Maui County’s wastewater treatment plant has discharged millions of gallons of recycled water into groundwater. Over several months, this pollution migrates to the ocean where it affects the health of coral reefs. Under the Clean Water Act, any addition of any pollutant from any point source to a navigable water requires a costly and time-consuming permit. Yet the county has never obtained a permit, believing that the conveyance of the pollution by groundwater rather than a pipe rendered the permit requirement inapplicable.

This week, the Supreme Court confronted the question whether a permit is required. But, if the oral argument is any indication, the answer is anything but clear. And that opaqueness raises significant concerns about how pollution can be addressed effectively while also giving fair notice to property owners. Although the Court’s consideration was limited to the statute as it exists today, the debate…

The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill will make no further progress before the general election. The Bill is however of potentially huge constitutional significance, and a new government could well look to pass it quickly. It was therefore imperative that it be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny in the short period between its forestalled second reading on 22 October and Parliament’s dissolution on 6 November.

On this basis the House of Lords Constitution Committee on Tuesday published an interim report on the Bill. The Committee makes clear that it does not pass judgement on the policy issues in the Bill or those related to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) more broadly. But such is its complexity that it sees value in both explaining the purpose and effect of the Bill and in exploring at this stage the technical legal challenges that the Bill seeks to address.

The…

I is for impeachment, a parliamentary prosecution in which classically the lower House of the legislature acts to present the alleged malefactor for trial, and the upper House sits in judgement. 

Much has been heard about the procedure in recent years, first because of its deployment in Brazil against the President, Dilma Rousseff, resulting in her removal from office in August 2017, and secondly because of the much-discussed (but remote) possibility of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the United States. In both the latter cases, impeachment has been embedded within a written constitution and recognised procedures. Although the origins of impeachment lie in English politics, impeachments were highly unusual, and always subject to intense political and legal argument about procedure and fairness. In almost each case the procedures were reinvented and argued over (a summary of the procedure here reasonably explains the broadly outlines, but conveys a rather…

This blog from Paul Seaward, British Academy/Wolfson Research Professor at the History of Parliament Trust, is part of our Named Parliaments series. He explores the so-called exclusion crisis of the late seventeenth century. You might also be interested in Paul’s recent blog on the Cavalier Parliament.

Three short Parliaments – those that assembled in March 1679, in October 1680, and March 1681 – are collectively referred to as the ‘Exclusion’ Parliaments, for they were dominated by the issue of the exclusion from the throne of Charles II’s heir, his brother, James, Duke of York. The astonishing revelation that York had undergone conversion to the Roman Catholic faith – confirmed in 1672, but widely known well before – was the central element in a political crisis that destabilised the English government for much of the rest of Charles II’s reign. The issue of how England’s Protestant church could be…

The final blog in our trio for LGBT+ History Month comes from our Public Engagement Officer, Sammy Sturgess. She considers how nineteenth century legal reform in the British Empire impacted the regulation of homosexuality and its Commonwealth legacy…

2019 is the 70^th anniversary of the Commonwealth so
it seems appropriate to consider the legacy of British colonial-era legislation
on Commonwealth nations. Specifically, given that it’s LGBT+ History Month,
here we’ll discuss the nineteenth century codification of law and how this
related to homosexual offences in the British Empire and continues to affect
the lives of LGBTI+ people in the Commonwealth today.

2018 saw the legacy of British colonial-era legislation relating to the criminalisation of homosexuality take centre stage in the press on more than one occasion. In April 2018 Trinidad and Tobago declared that section 13 and 16 of their Sexual Offences Act which related to male…

Proposals for another Brexit referendum will be at the heart of the election campaign and it is therefore important that the viability of politicians’ plans are thoroughly tested. Drawing on recent research, Alan Renwick, Meg Russell and Lisa James here set out five key questions. They suggest that Labour’s plans for a referendum within six months are challenging, though not necessarily impossible. A poll which pitted Boris Johnson’s deal against Remain would be simpler and quicker, avoiding additional negotiation time. This would also have the advantage of enhancing the referendum’s legitimacy among Brexit supporters. 

The parties are finalising their election manifestos, and several will propose a further referendum on Brexit. These policies will come under close scrutiny during the campaign. This post draws on and updates a detailed report published by the Constitution Unit last year. It sets out the possible routes to a further Brexit referendum, the key choices…

Animal rights campaigners claim service dogs are unfairly bred to benefit humans.

Charlie Parker, November 6, 2019, The Times

Blind people are being verbally abused by animal rights activists for owning guide dogs.

Owners say they were targeted while walking their specially trained labradors, who wear high-visibility harnesses to identify them as helpers.

Some animal welfare campaigners claim that service dogs are unfairly bred to benefit humans.

Jonathan Attenborough, from Fife, was born without sight in his right eye and aggressive glaucoma claimed the sight in his left five years ago. He was paired with Sam, a three-year-old labrador, in April last year.

Mr Attenborough, 30, described his pet as a “constant companion” who had enabled him to lead a more fulfilling life. He is convinced that Sam lives a happy life as his helper.

However, after two verbal attacks from people claiming to be campaigners against animal cruelty, he…

The wind industry is built on lies and runs on subsidies, so it’s no surprise that the market has taken revenge on wind power outfits pitching up overblown output forecasts.

One of them, Orsted (part owned by the Danish government) has seen its share price slashed, as investors recognise that they’ve been had. The knock-on effect has seen the share price of Danish wind turbine maker, Vestas also take a substantial hit.

Vestas is already in dire financial straits, having recently determined to eliminate some 600 of its groovy ‘green’ jobs. Its rival Siemens Gamesa, has also been forced to wield the axe, sacking 600 workers in its Danish operations.

In a case of, ‘it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of lads’, we’ll start with a lament from the renewable energy propaganda outfit, Bloomberg.

Offshore wind gets a warning from its biggest developer
Bloomberg
Will Mathis and…

A Supreme Court judgement in August last year has led to the Department of Conservation undertaking partial reviews of the Conservation General Policy and the General Policy for National Parks, to give better effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

And what are these principles?

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage told Point of Order:

“The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are not explicitly stated in the articles of the Treaty itself.”

Nope.

“They have evolved primarily though jurisprudence…”  

They also have significant governance and constitutional implications.

Another stage in this evolutionary process was the Supreme Court’s ruling which   buttressed an iwi’s claim to exclusive rights to conduct commercial tours for at least five years on the Rangitoto and Motutapu islands in the Hauraki Gulf.

Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki went to court to challenge DoC’s issuing five-year tourism concessions to Fullers and the Motutapu Island Restoration Trust on the…

BBC host Andrew Neil exposes the inaccurate and alarmist claims of Extinction Rebellion.

Last week a group calling themselves the Sustainable Finance Forum –  itself a creation of the self-selected left-wing environmental/political lobby group The Aotearoa Circle –  published an interim report.   The report is 70 pages long, but don’t let that deter you as there really isn’t much there.

Of course, this is not just any lobby group.  On the board of the Aotearoa Circle, for example, sits Vicky Robertson, chief executive of the Ministry for the Environment, and supposedly an apolitical public servant, advising ministers of whichever political stripe.  Oh well, never mind those old conventions…..   And one of the two co-chairs of the Sustainable Finance Forum is Matt Whineray, chief executive of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, and supposedly an apolitical public servant charged with managing a large pool of taxpayers’ money from one government to the next.   Somewhat surprisingly (but welcome) the Reserve Bank Governor…