The Constitutional Legitimacy of Law Officers in the United Kingdom

Conor McCormick is Lecturer in Law at Queen’s University Belfast, UK.

1. Introduction
Labelling the Law Officers
Leading Critiques of the Law Officers
Presenting a Fresh Perspective on the Law Officers
Conclusions
2. Conceptualising Law Officers in the UK Constitution
Introduction
The Concept of Constitutional Legitimacy
The Concept of Independence
The Concept of Accountability
The Concept of Trust
Conclusions
3. The Attorney General and Solicitor General for England and Wales
Introduction
Executive Functions
Advisory and Advocacy Functions
Public Interest Functions
Conclusions
4. The Counsel General for Wales
Introduction
Constituting the Counsel General
The Familiar Functions of the Counsel General
Unique and Recently Created Functions of the Counsel General
Conclusions
5. The Lord Advocate, Solicitor General and Advocate General for Scotland
Introduction
The Monarchical Phase
The ‘Predominantly Political’ Phase
The ‘Predominantly Legal’ Phase
The Post-Devolution, Modern-Day Phase
Conclusions
6. The Attorney General and Advocate General for Northern Ireland
Introduction
The Original Office
The Cognate Office
The Current Offices
Conclusions
7. Constitutional Controversy and Law Officer Legitimacy
Introduction
Constitutional Controversy and the Value of Independence
Constitutional Controversy and the Value of Accountability
Constitutional Controversy and the Value of Trust
Conclusions
8 Conclusions
Introduction
A Trifocal and Relativistic Model of Legitimising Values
Conclusions