Orthodox Principles and Unconventional Outcomes in Public Law

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This chapter sketches Lady Hale’s contributions to public law, which have four distinctive characteristics. First, she has tried, not always successfully, to extend legal protection for vulnerable people against official indifference or inefficiency. Second, she has combined pragmatism with principle in mapping the frontiers between the competences of tribunals and courts. Third, she has used law to enhance political accountability for executive actions. Fourth, she has extended legal control of special privileges and exceptional powers of political élites. In doing so, she has challenged élite privilege, and given content (not uncontroversially) to constitutional principles, including the rule of law, responsible government, representative democracy and parliamentary sovereignty.