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Both the privy council and elections in early modern Scotland are understudied. The council itself has largely been described as a tool for crown management of elections. But it was fundamentally a court and standing committee charged with government administration, which was often supplicated to deal with cases of electoral impropriety and controversy. As elections became increasingly contested throughout the later 17th century, so the council's role developed into a form of elections committee which adjudicated over controverted elections. This, in some ways, reflected the business conducted by parliament's own elections committee, although the council was largely concerned with elections in the royal burghs while it also dealt with other electoral issues. This article explores the privy council's engagement in a complex range of electoral business between the Revolution of 1689 and its abolition in 1708. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examined through a legal prism, Canada is an officially bilingual federal state with a bi-juridical legal system based, for the most part, on the traditions of British common law as it has evolved over the years. But in Quebec, the private law is civil law, contained in a Civil Code, derived from the laws established in what was New France. Canadian public law is essentially British. The current Head of State is King Charles III, Head of the Commonwealth. Canada’s constitution sets forth, inter alia, the jurisdictional competence of the federal government and that of the provinces and territories. Over the course of the more than 150 years since Confederation, the respective governments have engaged in much litigation, testing the limits of their respective legislative powers. Beginning in the early years of the twentieth century, an increasing volume of legislation developed as Canada progressed from its colonial status to a fully autonomous state with full control of both its domestic and foreign affairs. The scope and volume of legislation increased substantially in the lead-up to the Second World War (and thereafter) as governments, in their respective spheres, sought to create a legal environment that was attentive to a broader range of social issues. The existence of a federal state complicated the development and enactment of policies that produce the same outcomes throughout the country, since the constitution confers legislative jurisdiction on the provinces regarding property and civil rights. Much effort is expended in intergovernmental negotiations, leading to achievement of substantially harmonised results.

Examined through a legal prism, Canada is an officially bilingual federal state with a bi-juridical legal system based, for the most part, on the traditions of British common law as it has evolved over the years. But in Quebec, the private law is civil law, contained in a Civil Code, derived from the laws established in what was New France. Canadian public law is essentially British. The current Head of State is King Charles III, Head of the Commonwealth. Canada's constitution sets forth, inter alia, the jurisdictional competence of the federal government and that of the provinces and territories. Over the course of the more than 150 years since Confederation, the respective governments have engaged in much litigation, testing the limits of their respective legislative powers. Beginning in the early years of the twentieth century, an increasing volume of legislation developed as Canada progressed from its colonial status to a fully autonomous state with full control of both its domestic and foreign affairs. The scope and volume of legislation increased substantially in the lead-up to the Second World War (and thereafter) as governments, in their respective spheres, sought to create a legal environment that was attentive to a broader range of social issues. The existence of a federal state complicated the development and enactment of policies that produce the same outcomes throughout the country, since the constitution confers legislative jurisdiction on the provinces regarding property and civil rights. Much effort is expended in intergovernmental negotiations, leading to achievement of substantially harmonised results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intertwinement of human rights and capital punishment has been an enduring issue, invoking populous sentiments from both sides of the divide. The Commonwealth Caribbean in particular, has been confronted with unique circumstances in the last decade on the administration of the death penalty. This article explores three areas pertinent to understanding the long standing debate regarding capital punishment in Trinidad and Tobago; the constitutionality of the death penalty, 'barriers' to its application and contemporary arguments regarding law reform. The first section of this paper examines the constitution, existing statute and case law to illustrate the legality of the death penalty in Trinidad and Tobago. The second section elucidates on the human rights factor involved in the logistical application of the death penalty in the Commonwealth Caribbean, implications of the landmark Privy Council Pratt ruling and delays involved in the actual application of capital punishment in Trinidad and Tobago. The third portion of this article focuses on government attempts at constitutional amendment, abolition of the Privy Council and potential resultant human rights violations. This paper concludes that while the death penalty is constitutional within Trinidad and Tobago, there is a virtual moratorium on its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major disruptions and challenges to local ecclesiastical and other arrangements in Jersey and Guernsey in the late 1610s have been seen as part of a wider initiative to bring order and system to the churches and realms over which James VI and I held sway. This article explores the full range of these developments, and their local context, to understand the degree to which central and local initiative interacted. This allows for consideration of the coherence of the sequence of events, and their development in narratives which became part of the wider interplay between territories of the English crown, both at the time and in the following two decades, as experienced and constructed from the perspectives of Presbyterian and Laudian controversialists. The evidence advanced suggests both the extent of potential disruption, and the degree to which it was locally driven and only later integrated into narratives of centrally directed unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent pandemic has forced schools of architecture to re‐evaluate the ways they teach. The Architectural Association (AA) in London is no exception in this respect. Mark Morris, its Head of Teaching and Learning, discusses how film and animation have been the method of choice for students who are holed up in their homes across the world and subject to a myriad of time zones. Here he guides us through some of the institution's recent MArch/ AA Diploma graduates who received honours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Empire is treated as a historical phenomenon, but it enjoys a residual existence in the form of the various Overseas Territories of the UK. This paper considers the constitutional position of those territories. It shows that they are mostly excluded from what is called here the 'domestic' constitution, having no representation in its institutions and, when acknowledged, if at all, conceived of as foreign entities. Instead, the Overseas Territories are governed mostly via a distinct (post-)imperial constitution, primarily via the mechanism of the Privy Council. That institution, which does little work within the domestic constitution, creates a formal divide between the domestic and the imperial. This formal divide both masks the substantive continuities between the domestic and the imperial constitutions and facilitates, as regards the Overseas Territories, forms of governance which would not be tolerated in the imperial centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines what happened in August and September 1714, from the death of Queen Anne on 1 August to the swearing‐in of the new privy council on 1 October, specifically from the perspective of the membership of the house of lords. It confirms that most members were present in London during this period and active in parliament, the privy council, the regency, and politics generally. Very few were absent without a good reason. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]