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Crowning glory: public law, power and the monarchy

Murphy, Th�r�se; Whitty, Noel

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Authors

Th�r�se Murphy

Noel Whitty



Abstract

‘New public law’ has a keen interest in the deployment of power and the shifting nature of the public and private. In this article, we argue that the historical legacy of the Crown has hindered the ability of public lawyers to respond to changes in modes of governance in the UK. The constitutional law textbook tradition has played a key role in limiting critiques of the Crown because of the obfuscation that surrounds the legal and political status of the Monarch. However, instead of discounting the significance of the monarchy, we use it as a resource for exploring governing power, the blurring of boundaries and constitutional renewal.

Our starting point is the life, death and, most importantly, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. The latter event exposed the political relevance of the ‘personal’ in a most dramatic way, generating claims about the ‘feminisation of the government’ and ‘emotions augmenting democracy’. We follow through on these claims in order to focus on the effects of adopting private, intimate-sphere norms in the public sphere, in particular public-sphere decision making. While aware of the risks associated with this ‘transformation’ of democracy, we conclude that the increasing centrality of the intimate merits onsideration in new public law’s search for progressive tools of modern governance.

Citation

Murphy, T., & Whitty, N. (2000). Crowning glory: public law, power and the monarchy. Social and Legal Studies, 9(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/096466390000900102

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2000
Deposit Date Oct 2, 2012
Publicly Available Date Oct 2, 2012
Journal Social & Legal Studies
Electronic ISSN 0964-6639
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/096466390000900102
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1023743
Publisher URL http://sls.sagepub.com/content/9/1/7.full.pdf+html

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