Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) Public Law and Legal System (FLK1) Syllabus

Public Law and Legal System (FLK1) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Public Law and Legal System (FLK1) in Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Constitutional Principles and Institutions

   3 topics

   • Core constitutional doctrines
     • Parliamentary sovereignty
     • The rule of law
     • Separation of powers
   • Sources of the constitution
     • Statute, common law and conventions
     • Royal prerogative
     • Devolution
   • Institutions of state
     • Parliament and the legislative process
     • The executive and the Crown
     • The judiciary and independence
2. 2

   Judicial Review

   3 topics

   • Grounds for judicial review
     • Illegality
     • Irrationality and proportionality
     • Procedural impropriety and legitimate expectation
   • Procedure and remedies
     • Standing and amenability
     • Time limits and the pre-action protocol
     • Quashing, prohibiting and mandatory orders
   • Supervisory jurisdiction limits
     • Justiciability and ouster clauses
     • Distinction from appeal
3. 3

   Human Rights and the ECHR

   3 topics

   • The Human Rights Act 1998
     • Convention rights and Schedule 1
     • Sections 3, 4 and 6 mechanisms
     • Declarations of incompatibility
   • Key Convention rights
     • Articles 2, 3, 5 and 6
     • Articles 8 to 11 and qualified rights
     • Proportionality and the margin of appreciation
   • Enforcement and the Strasbourg court
     • Bringing a claim under the Human Rights Act
     • Just satisfaction and remedies
     • Role of the European Court of Human Rights
4. 4

   The Legal System and Statutory Interpretation

   3 topics

   • Court structure and personnel
     • Hierarchy of the courts
     • Doctrine of precedent (stare decisis)
   • Statutory interpretation
     • Literal, golden and mischief rules
     • Purposive approach and aids to interpretation
   • Sources and primacy of law
     • Primary and secondary legislation
     • Retained EU law and its status

Public Law and Legal System (FLK1) flashcards for Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

24 of 63 cards from the Public Law and Legal System (FLK1) deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three core doctrines underpinning the UK constitution?

   Parliamentary sovereignty (supremacy), the rule of law, and the separation of powers. The doctrine of constitutional monarchy and the role of conventions also support these.

2. State Dicey's classic three-part definition of parliamentary sovereignty.

   (1) Parliament can make or unmake any law whatsoever; (2) no person or body may override or set aside an Act of Parliament; (3) no Parliament can bind its successors (no entrenchment).

3. Which case established that the courts cannot question the validity of an Act of Parliament (the 'enrolled bill rule')?

   Pickin v British Railways Board (1974) — once a bill has passed both Houses and received Royal Assent, courts cannot investigate its internal parliamentary procedure or validity.

4. What is the doctrine of implied repeal and which case illustrates it?

   Where two Acts conflict, the later Act impliedly repeals the earlier to the extent of inconsistency. Illustrated in Ellen Street Estates v Minister of Health (1934).

5. How did Thoburn v Sunderland City Council (2002) qualify implied repeal?

   Laws LJ held that 'constitutional statutes' (e.g. the European Communities Act 1972, Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the HRA 1998) cannot be impliedly repealed; they can only be repealed by express words or unavoidably necessary implication.

6. Define the rule of law according to Dicey's three meanings.

   (1) No punishment except for a distinct breach of law established before ordinary courts; (2) equality before the law (all subject to ordinary law and courts); (3) the constitution results from ordinary law / rights developed through case law.

7. What did R (Jackson) v Attorney General (2005) suggest about parliamentary sovereignty?

   Obiter, some Law Lords (notably Lord Steyn and Lord Hope) suggested sovereignty may not be absolute and the courts might refuse to enforce legislation that abolished judicial review or undermined the rule of law.

8. What are the two main types of the separation of powers theory, and where does the UK sit?

   Pure (strict) separation versus a 'checks and balances' model. The UK has a partial/weak separation with significant overlap, especially between the executive and legislature (fusion).

9. What are the principal sources of the UK constitution?

   Acts of Parliament (statute), case law (common law), the royal prerogative, constitutional conventions, the law and custom of Parliament, and authoritative works/treaties of constitutional significance.

10. What is a constitutional convention and is it legally enforceable?

    A non-legal, binding rule of constitutional behaviour (a 'rule of political practice'). Conventions are not legally enforceable by the courts, though courts may recognise their existence (e.g. Miller (No 1)).

11. Give two examples of constitutional conventions in the UK.

    The monarch grants Royal Assent on ministerial advice; the monarch appoints as PM the leader who commands the confidence of the House of Commons; ministers are collectively and individually responsible to Parliament (the Salisbury Convention is another).

12. What is the royal prerogative?

    The residue of discretionary or arbitrary authority legally left in the hands of the Crown (Dicey) — common law powers historically exercised by the monarch, now largely exercised by ministers (e.g. treaty-making, deployment of armed forces, pardons).

13. What did the Case of Proclamations (1611) establish about the prerogative?

    The King has no prerogative power to create new offences or change the law of the land by proclamation; the King has only those prerogatives the law allows. The prerogative cannot be extended.

14. What is the effect of statute on an overlapping prerogative power (Attorney General v De Keyser's Royal Hotel, 1920)?

    Where a statute covers the same ground as a prerogative power, the prerogative is held in abeyance (suspended) and the executive must act under the statutory scheme, not the prerogative.

15. What did R (Miller) v Secretary of State (Miller No 1, 2017) decide about triggering Article 50?

    The Government could not use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 to leave the EU, because doing so would remove rights conferred by statute; an Act of Parliament was required to authorise notification.

16. What did R (Miller) v Prime Minister (Miller No 2, 2019) decide about prorogation?

    The prerogative to prorogue Parliament is justiciable and unlawful if it frustrates or prevents, without reasonable justification, Parliament carrying out its constitutional functions. The 2019 prorogation was held null and of no effect.

17. Name the three principal institutions of the state and their primary function.

    The legislature (Parliament — makes law), the executive (Government/Crown — implements and administers law), and the judiciary (courts — interprets and applies law).

18. What are the three component parts of the UK Parliament?

    The House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch (the Crown-in-Parliament). All three must consent for an Act to be passed (subject to the Parliament Acts).

19. What do the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 allow?

    They allow a bill to be passed without the consent of the House of Lords (under specified conditions, after delay), limiting the Lords to a delaying power of about one year and removing their power over money bills (one month).

20. What are the three traditional grounds of judicial review identified in the GCHQ case (1985)?

    Illegality, irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness), and procedural impropriety. Lord Diplock also suggested proportionality might develop as a further ground.

21. What is meant by 'illegality' as a ground of judicial review?

    The decision-maker must understand correctly the law regulating its decision-making power and give effect to it — includes acting ultra vires, errors of law, improper purpose, irrelevant/relevant considerations, fettering discretion, and unlawful delegation.

22. Define Wednesbury unreasonableness (irrationality).

    From Associated Provincial Picture Houses v Wednesbury Corporation (1948): a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever have come to it — 'so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards' (GCHQ).

23. What are the two limbs of procedural impropriety in judicial review?

    (1) Failure to observe statutory procedural requirements; and (2) breach of the common law rules of natural justice / procedural fairness (the right to a fair hearing and the rule against bias).

24. State the two rules of natural justice.

    Audi alteram partem (the right to a fair hearing — hear the other side) and nemo iudex in causa sua (the rule against bias — no one may be a judge in their own cause).

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