"nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 19/08/2019 17:12, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 19/08/2019 17:02, nightjar wrote:
...
If that Act is repealed, EU law will cease to have any effect in the UK,
except as permitted by other, later, legislation. Hence, UK law is and
always has been supreme, even if if has granted permission to the EU to
create legislation that it will follow.

THst is where the international law of treaties overrules domestic law,
and where the legal minefield begins

As a soveriegn country the UK has the right to sign international treaies
and ve bound by them irrevocably irrespective of deomestic law which may
seek to oveertride them

It also has te pwoer to unilaterally withdraw from them.

IOW, ultimately domestic law has precedence. It may not sit well with the
international community if a country does decide to withdraw from a treaty
but, as Donald Trump has demonstrated, it is quite possible to withdraw by
means of domestic legislation without any more serious consequence than
other countries condemning the action.

He hasnt ever used domestic legislation, just presidential edicts.

Even the minimal changes to NAFTA havent even got Congressional endorsement
yet.

However if a treaty cedes sovereignty, the position is as muddy as hell.

on the one hand, as no longer a sovereign nation, the treaty cannot be
held to be valid. On the other hand as no longer a soverign nation, no
unilteral withdrawal is possible....

It is not possible to cede sovereignty via a treaty.

Of course it is, particularly when the parliament signs off on that treaty.

It is, however, possible to delegate some of the responsibilities that
way.

That too.

This has been done with EU in respect of secondary legislation. In that,
the EU is in the same position as any Secretary of State; They may issue
Regulations within the scope of enabling legislation, passed by the UK
parliament. If that enabling legislation is withdrawn, the Regulations
cease to have effect, unless they are enshrined into UK law by another
piece of legislation.

EU Directives OTOH do not automatically pass into the law of the member
states.

Some do. Most obviously with the free movement of EU citizens.

They have to be implemented through national legislation in each state.

Utterly mangled all over again.

States may also choose to implement the Directive in different ways,
subject to keeping certain core elements. For example, when the Working
Hours Directive was introduced, the French made a 35 hour working week a
mandatory maximum for everybody. In the UK, we set 35 hours as the maximum
that any employee could be required to work, but allowed them to work
voluntarily up to 48 hours a week.

Pity about the free movement of EU citizens.