Citation

Morris C. Legal Stud. 2012; 32(2): 226-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Society of Legal Scholars, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1748-121X.2011.00215.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

For almost as long as there have been elections, their outcomes have been disputed. Disgruntled candidates have tried many different avenues to right the wrongs of an election they consider they should have won. For several hundred years, jurisdiction over disputed elections was exercised by the Monarch personally, then by the courts, and then by Parliament until finally, in the 1860s, Parliament ceded its power to the courts in the form of the election petitions jurisdiction. This paper considers that history, examines the current system of election petitions, and proposes a number of reforms to this crucial aspect of British democracy.

Language: en