Oxford institute to examine constitutional crisis with Putney Debates for the age of Brexit

The Oxford Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, in association with Oxford University Law Faculty, is restaging the historic Putney Debates for the age of Brexit, 370 years after the original Putney Debates ushered in a new democratic order.

The Putney Debates 2017: Constitutional Crisis in the UK will be held at the site of the original Putney Debates, St Mary’s Church in Putney, on 2–3 February 2017. The debate will address the UK's constitutional future in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union and subsequent constitutional conflict between executive, legislature, and the judiciary as the government seeks to challenge the High Court ruling that it must consult Parliament before triggering Article 50.

The Debates will be chaired by the UK's leading legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg, Cambridge philosopher and Cross-bench Peer Baroness Onora O’Neill, and Oxford constitutional law experts Professor Paul Craig and Professor Denis Galligan, who will preside over four panels of over 30 prominent figures from the law, politics, and civil society.

• Renowned philosopher and prominent Brexit critic AC Grayling will make an impassioned plea for a written Constitution for the UK, 370 years after it was first proposed at the original Putney Debates;

• Former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Stephen Sedley will ask: In the wake of the legal challenges over the use of the ancient Royal Prerogative to trigger Article 50, does the separation of powers still work?

• Rob Murray, lead partner at Mishcon de Reya LLP representing Gina Miller in the Article 50 case before the UK Supreme Court, will bring his insights into the key findings of the Supreme Court in the case;

• Constitutional expert (and former tutor to David Cameron) Vernon Bogdanor will assess the implications for parliamentary sovereignty of the EU referendum and government’s decision to enact Brexit irrespective of any parliamentary vote;

• Renowned human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield QC will argue for the value of the popular vote;

• Professors Will Hutton, Timothy Garton Ash, and Paul Craig will examine the evolving role and expectations of the People in our 21st Century democracy;

• Robert Hazell CBE, founder of the Constitution Unit at UCL will assess the purpose of referendums and why we need fewer of them;

• Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy, will assess the democratic and constitutional principles that the original Putney Debates brought about and how they should be updated for the twenty-first century.

Participants will speak briefly on the constitutional issues facing the country and offer their vision for future directions, before the debate is opened up to questions from the audience.

The Debate is the brainchild of Professor Denis Galligan, Director at the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society and Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. Describing the inspiration for the event, he said:
“Parallels between the original Putney Debates—convened when England was emerging from Civil War, government had practically ceased, and social and political chaos prevailed—and the situation after the 2016 referendum are striking.

Government has been toppled, a new leadership has emerged, and the two main parties are in a state of internecine warfare. Parliamentarians do not understand how to reconcile their duty to act for the common good and the result of the referendum. The people are divided and the four nations comprising the United Kingdom are at odds.”

The Putney Debates 2017 will question the centuries-old anomaly that the UK has no formally agreed written Constitution, and be a landmark event in the debate over the UK’s constitutional future.

To see the full line up, programme and registration details are available at www.putneydebates2017.co.uk

January 19, 2017