Constitutional Legitimacy of Law Officers in the United Kingdom

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

McCormick promises, and delivers, an original evaluative approach, which assesses the legitimacy of the law officers’ positions and their performance of the tasks entrusted to them by reference to a trio of constitutional values: independence, accountability and trust.

• 1. Introduction Labelling the Law Officers Leading Critiques of the Law OfficersPresenting 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