In a speech to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Lady Hale took the opportunity to talk about the UK constitution and for students currently studying public law the full text is a must-read.

The United Kingdom is unusual in the sense that it does not have a written constitution but this does not mean that it should not adhere to basic constitutional principles. To understand what those principles are Lady Hale referenced a judgment from the former Chief Justice and subsequently King of Malaysia and gleaned three core points:
*Protection of fundamental rights
*The distribution of sovereign power between the States and the Federation
*Separation of powers and the rule of law

In the first instance Lady Hale spoke about the importance of human rights and gave an interesting history lesson as to why the UK would want to submit itself to the scrutiny that resides with being a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. She spoke about the Human Rights Act and the impact it has had on the caseload of the Supreme Court but acknowledged that there has regularly been talk about alternatively introducing a British Bill of Rights.

The second bullet point may seem like the anomaly and appears to be most relevant to a federation such as Malaysia but the principle offered Lady Hale the chance to talk about the effect of devolution on the UK constitution since 1998. Of particular interest is the interaction between Parliament in Westminster and the devolved administrations including the Sewel convention that means Parliament will generally not legislate on a matter that is reserved to the devolved bodies.

The third and final point may be the most easily recognised by law students but the speech by Hale is so good because it brings concepts that are more commonly the reserve of dusty law professors like Dicey into 2017. Most notably she speaks about Brexit and to the forthcoming Great Repeal Bill that will undoubtedly raise more legal questions than it answers. In fact the most important questions will find their way to the Supreme Court and before Lady Hale herself in many instances.

This will prove to be a great workload and may well change our conception of the UK constitution as we move forward. All students know that the advantage of an unwritten constitution is its flexibility and Brexit will undoubtedly put this flexibility to the test.