R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
Court	Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Full case name	R (on the application of Miller and another) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union R (on the application of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, ex parte Agnew and others (Northern Ireland) R (on the application of McCord) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)
Argued	5–8 December 2016
Decided	24 January 2017
Neutral citation	[2017] UKSC 5
Reported at	[2016] EWHC 2768 (Admin) [2016] NIQB 19
Case history
Prior action(s)	For the Miller and Dos Santos application only: Divisional Court (Queen's Bench Division) of the High Court (England and Wales) (EWHC (QBD)) Referred from: For the McCord application: Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) (NICA) For the application by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland: Divisional Court (Queen's Bench Division) of the High Court (Northern Ireland) (NIQB)
Holding
An invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union would remove rights enacted through primary legislation, and therefore may not be done by royal prerogative without enabling primary legislation. The Sewel Convention and other devolution laws do not require the permission of the devolved assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Neuberger, Hale, Mance, Kerr, Clarke, Wilson, Sumption, Reed, Carnwath, Hughes, Hodge
Case opinions
Majority	Neuberger, Hale, Mance, Kerr, Clarke, Wilson, Sumption, Hodge
Concur/dissent	Reed, Carnwath, Hughes (all dissented on royal prerogative point; all concurred on devolution point)
Area of law
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2017 European Communities Act 1972 European Union Referendum Act 2015 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 Scotland Act 1998 Scotland Act 2012 Scotland Act 2016 Government of Wales Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 2006 Wales Act 2014 Northern Ireland Act 1998 Northern Ireland Act 2006 Northern Ireland Act 2009 Parliamentary sovereignty Royal prerogative Treaty on European Union (TEU) Lisbon Treaty Maastricht Treaty European Union (EU) European Union (EU) law Council of the European Union (EU) (Consilium) Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Scotland Office Northern Ireland Office Devolution Sewel Convention Foreign affairs of the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Attorney General for England and Wales Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Lord Advocate (HM Advocate) Advocate General for Scotland Counsel General for Wales Attorney General for Northern Ireland

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union^[1] is a United Kingdom constitutional law case decided by the United Kingdom Supreme Court on 24 January 2017, which ruled that the British Government (the executive) might not initiate withdrawal from the European Union by formal notification to the Council of the European Union as prescribed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union without an Act of Parliament giving the government Parliament's permission to do so. Two days later, the government responded by bringing to Parliament the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 for first reading in the House of Commons on 26 January 2017. The case is informally referred to as "the Miller case" or "Miller I" (to differentiate with Miller's later Brexit-related case against the Government, Miller II).

The Supreme Court's decision was given on appeal from the High Court's ruling^[2] that the Crown's foreign affairs prerogative, which is exercised by the government led by the Prime Minister, may not be used to nullify rights that Parliament has enacted through primary legislation. The case was seen as having constitutional significance in deciding the scope of the royal prerogative in foreign affairs.^[3] The Supreme Court also ruled that devolved legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have no legal right to veto the act.^[4]

The government's appeal was against the High Court order dated 7 November 2016 that formally declared: "The Secretary of State does not have power under the Crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union." The Supreme Court heard the appeal from 5 December 2016 to 8 December 2016, and, by a majority of 8–3, upheld the High Court ruling, finding that authorisation by Parliament was required for the invocation of Article 50.^[5]

The case was intervened by the Lord Advocate and the Counsel General for Wales for the Scottish and Welsh governments (respectively as the Scottish and Welsh Ministers), and applicants for judicial review in Northern Ireland also had their three separate applications considered together with this case, all of whom argued that the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly all had to consent to the invocation of Article 50. In each case this was unanimously rejected by the court.^[5]