Constitutional and Administrative Law

This new edition of Barnett’s Constitutional and Administrative Law is published against the background of continuing constitutional reform and change. Current reform plans include limiting the powers of the executive and making the executive more accountable. The power to exercise a number of important royal prerogative powers is to be transferred from the executive to Parliament. The office of Attorney General is to be reformed to create a clearer separation of powers. House of Lords reform remains on the agenda and a review of elections and voting systems is under way. The government also envisages a national debate on the constitution and citizen’s rights and responsibilities – a debate which ultimately might lead to a written constitution.

This seventh edition has been fully revised in order to take into account these issues and remain an up-to-date and reliable resource for students of public law. Written in a clear and understandable style, this new edition is comprehensive and authoritative as well as comprehensible, providing a thorough exposition of the major features of the United Kingdom’s constitution and recent developments and proposals for reform.

Mapped to the common course outline and consciously designed to meet the needs of students undertaking the constitutional and administrative law course, whether full or part time, undergraduate or postgraduate, this book offers full coverage of the syllabus drawn from a wide range of sources. It is now in a larger format and a contemporary new text design opens out the page and improves the layout. New pedagogical features include:

• very brief introductory chapter overviews to outline the topics and concepts covered
• short chapter summaries to distil and reflect upon the main points raised
• diagrams, schematics and flowcharts to illustrate concepts and facilitate the understanding of concepts and interrelationships
• further reading at the end of each chapter to encourage wider research.

Improved online support features lecturer teaching resources with downloadable VLE content, podcasts, reference material and bonus related content, revision support and testing.

Barnett’s Constitutional and Administrative Law is now firmly established as one of the leading undergraduate textbooks on public law - a must-read for any serious student of the law!