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ONE IMPORTANT ASPECT OF BRITISH CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY IS A WIDELY HELD BELIEF THAT JUDGES ARE POLITICALLY NEUTRAL AND THAT THE JUDICIAL PROCESS IS, AND SHOULD BE, SET APART FROM POLITICS. ONE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IS THAT JUDGES ARE FREQUENTLY DEPLOYED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY TO PRESIDE OVER INDEPENDENT INQUIRIES INTO MATTERS WHICH HAVE AROUSED PUBLIC CONCERN, SUCH AS POLITICAL CORRUPTION.

THE SESSION OF 1973/74 OF THE UK PARLIAMENT WAS MOST REMARKABLE FOR THE MANNER OF ITS DEMISE. THE SUDDEN DISOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT ON ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL ELECTION WHICH WAS CALLED IN FEBRUARY 1974 HAD A DEVASTATING EFFECT UPON ITS LEGISLATIVE OUTPUT.

The contents of legal journals, trawled carefully and selectively, represent both a potentially and intermittently valuable resource and an extension to our intellectual horizons, which has hitherto been shamefully underused. (SJK)

The Defence Committee of the House of Commons published 2 reports of its investigation of the Westland affair in 1986; the main report was on the government's decision making in the affair. The committee's proceedings and findings and the government's reply are described, and the political and constitutional implications of the affair are indicated. (CP)

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Notes on Contributors -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Britain in Europe: Community to Union, 1973-2001 -- 3 Balancing Supremacy: EU Membership and the Constitution -- 4 Parliamentary Scrutiny of Policy and Legislation: The Procedures of the Lords and Commons -- 5 Governance, Institutional Reform and Enlargement -- 6 Employment Law and the Social Chapter -- 7 Westminster, EMU, and the Euro -- 8 Second Pillar Challenges: Foreign, Security and Defence Policies -- 9 Immigration and Asylum: Law and Policy in Action -- 10 Devolution, Westminster and the EU -- 11 Finding the Way Forward -- Appendix A: Chronology of/Key Events -- Appendix B: Web links -- Select Bibliography: Books, Chapters and Articles Cited -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.

TRADE UNION REFORM, NEW LAW AND ORDER PROVISIONS AND AN UNABATED UNALIATED FLOW OF PRIVATISATION MEASURES UNDERLINE THE THATCHER GOVERNMENT'S CONFIDENCE IN ITS ABILITY TO PRODUCE EFFECTIVE LEGISLATION IMPLEMENTING ITS DISTINCTIVE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN CONTROVERSIAL AREAS OF PUBLIC POLICY. HOW FAR THIS CONFIDENCE WAS DUE TO THE GENUINE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES AND HOW FAR IT RESULTED RATHER FROM THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE OPPOSITION MOUNTED AGAINST THEM IS YET TO BE DETERMINED. THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES THE DEBATE AND FORMULATION OF THE REFORMS OF THE 1983/1984 AND 1984/1985 PARLIAMENTS. AN EXTENSIVE APPENDIX TO THIS ARTICLE LISTS DETAILS OF PUBLIC BILLS, LEGISLATION ENACTED, BILLS LOST OR UERTHDRAWN AND BLACKBENCH LEGISLATION FOR THE PERIOD.