How Brexit Will Happen: A Brief Primer on EU Law and Constitutional Law Questions Raised by Brexit

Abstract

In a referendum held in the UK on 23 June 2016, 51.9% of the participating electorate voted to leave the European Union. The number of legal questions raised by the referendum are breathtaking. This article tackles two of them: it discusses questions of UK constitutional law involved in deciding to leave the Union, namely the role of referenda, sovereignty of Parliament, the scope of the royal prerogative and devolution, as well as the basic EU law rules concerning the withdrawal process as contained in Art. 50 of the TEU. The latter involves issues such as the start of the negotiations, their content, length, how they will be conducted and whether the UK can conclude trade agreements during the Art. 50 negotiations process.

Keywords: Brexit, sovereignty, sovereignty of Parliament, royal prerogative, trade, common commercial policy, Commission, Council, WTO, EFTA

JEL Classification: K10, F02, F15, K33, F10, O52