Sunset clauses are a commonly used statutory provision related to the temporary duration of various laws. This book explores the constitutional value of such clauses. It examines the drafting of sunset clauses and the relevant amendment process, as well as the parameters that influence their incorporation into legislation. Arguments and conclusions are drawn from historical and current uses and it is discussed how and why legislators draft legislation with sunset clauses. Predominantly focused on their use in the UK, the approach is interdisciplinary and comparative insofar as it uses examples from a variety of legal orders.

In recent years, sunset clauses have mostly been associated with emergency legislation introduced in the wake of terrorist attacks. However, as this book demonstrates, they have a long history and a substantial constitutional impact on the separation of powers and the rule of law. In addition, the constitutional value of such clauses is examined from certain neglected normative aspects pertaining to concepts such as deliberative and consensus democracy, parliamentary sovereignty and constitutional dialogue. The work is an amalgam of three perspectives: the historical, the positive and the normative. All three are intertwined and each subsequent part builds upon the findings of the previous one. The historical perspective investigates the historical development of sunset clauses since the first Parliaments in England. The positive perspective examines the legal effect and the contemporary utility of sunset clauses. Finally, the normative perspective analyses their interaction with several models of separation of powers, and their influence on the dialogue between various institutions as it values their impact on the rule of law, formal and substantive. The detailed examination of this topical subject will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy makers.

This innovative book explores the nature and function of 'sunset clauses' and experimental legislation, or temporary legislation that expires after a determined period of time, allowing legislators to test out new rules and regulations within a set time frame and on a small-scale basis.

To view or download the 2022 Supplement to this book click here. Statutory Interpretation emphasizes a particular perspective on statutory interpretation--pragmatic judging, which means that the judge is influenced by substantive background considerations. This perspective is also sensitive to the historical framework that shapes modern statutory interpretation, to the institutional setting in which interpretation occurs, and to the reality that statutes can be a source of law (even when there is no common law power). The book concludes with an exploration of the rules governing the lawmaking process, especially those found in state constitutions.

ÔLaw and the Limits of Government by Frank Fagan is a creative and enormously useful book for any scholar of legislation, timing rules, and politics.Õ Ð Jacob Gersen, Harvard Law School, US Why do legislatures pass laws that automatically expire? Why are so many tax cuts sunset? In this first book-length treatment of those questions, the author explains that legislatures pass laws temporarily in order to reduce opposition from the citizenry, to increase the level of information revealed by lobbies, and to externalize the political costs of changing the tax code on to future legislatures. This book provides a careful analysis which does not normatively prescribe either permanent or temporary legislation in every instance, but rather specifies the conditions for which either permanent or temporary legislation would maximize social welfare. Containing comprehensive, theoretical, normative and empirical analysis of temporary lawmaking, Law and the Limits of Government will appeal to academics in law, economic and political science, lawmakers and policy advocates.

Constitutions worldwide inevitably have 'invisible' features: they have silences and lacunae, unwritten or conventional underpinnings, and social and political dimensions not apparent to certain observers. The Invisible Constitution in Comparative Perspective helps us understand these dimensions to contemporary constitutions, and their role in the interpretation, legitimacy and stability of different constitutional systems. This volume provides a nuanced theoretical discussion of the idea of 'invisibility' in a constitutional context, and its relationship to more traditional understandings of written versus unwritten constitutionalism. Containing a rich array of case studies, including discussions of constitutional practice in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Ireland and Malaysia, this book will look at how this aspect of 'invisible constitutions' is manifested across different jurisdictions.