I have research interests in a number of areas. Here are some questions that I am presently interested in, and some questions that I would like to pursue in the longer term.
Constitutional Law
At the moment I am especially interested in the question of parliamentary sovereignty in the British constitution. In essence, the question is about the law-making capacity of the British Parliament. In my research I try to identify which propositions about parliamentary sovereignty are true as a matter of present constitutional law.
This is not a narrowly parochial topic. Many of the theoretical problems are, I think, broadly relevant; they have implications for legislatures in jurisdictions across the world.
I also have a long-running interest in the role of the monarchy. And in the near future I would like to consider how the British constitution should be reformed, including whether it should be codified.
The Palace of Westminster in the evening
Legal Philosophy
During my doctorate I became interested in the question of conflicts between legal rules, and I have been trying to make progress on this topic ever since. It has received a lot of attention in legal philosophy, and may also profit from engagement with other fields such as metaethics and the philosophy of action.
Seeking to improve our understanding of conflicts is, I would suggest, valuable in itself. Furthermore, there are important arguments in the law that rely upon a set of propositions about when legal rules conflict with each other – so it is good that we test the persuasiveness of such propositions. For example, in the constitutional law of every jurisdiction attempts are made to explain whether two legislative enactments are conflicting with each other, or whether there is a conflict between a legislative enactment and a constitutional provision.
Cabo da Roca, the westernmost edge of continental Europe
International Law
I tend to be interested in basic questions in international law. These include: is there really such a thing as international law?; how does international law come into being?; and so on. These questions unashamedly have a theoretical flavour, and one of my aims has been to draw upon legal philosophy to assist in answering them.
I have also found it useful to engage with some of the theoretical literature on the law of the European Union, which is often presented as being neither state law nor international law.
In the longer term, I wish to explore what international law should be like – and why. Some of the relevant issues are addressed, for instance, in the literature on international distributive justice.