Prof Brice Dickson
I have worked as a legal academic for most of my career, becoming a professor in 1991, but I have also taken time out to work at board level for public bodies such as the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery. I have also been active in NGOs such as the Committee on the Administration of Justice in Northern Ireland and Amnesty International. I have published several books on law in Northern Ireland, human rights law and other legal issues (e.g. the concept of fairness). I retired from full-time academic work in 2017 but have remained research active since then in my capacity as Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University Belfast.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 1976
Experience
- b.dickson@qub.ac.uk Queen’s University Belfast (2005 - 2017)
- Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (1999 - 2005)
- Ulster University (1991 - 1999)
- Queen’s University Belfast (1979 - 1991)
- University of Leicester (1977 - 1979)
Membership
- Society of Legal Scholars
- Irish Association of Law Teachers
Qualifications
- BA (1974)
- BCL (1975)
- Barrister-at-law (Northern Ireland) (1976)
- MPhil (1998)
- LLD (2021)
Education
- Wadham College, Oxford (1971-1975)
- Queen’s University Belfast (1975-1976)
- Université de Paris II (1976-1977)
3 Contributions by Brice Dickson
PRACTICE NOTES
Decision-making and governance in Northern Ireland: devolution, power-sharing and cross-community voting, Secretary of State powers, governance without ministers, and Brexit impacts including the Protocol and Windsor Framework
How has decision making in Northern Ireland been carried out since the passing of the Northern Ireland Act 1998?
To answer this, recall the wider devolution framework for Northern Ireland. The Belfast Agreement envisaged not just a Northern Ireland Assembly, but also the creation of a North/South Ministerial Council and a British-Irish Council.
Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (NIA 1998), law-making for specified ‘transferred matters’ is vested in the Assembly. ‘Excepted matters’ remain the responsibility of the UK Parliament, while ‘reserved matters’ also stay there pending potential devolution at a later stage. As an illustration, policing and justice were in the reserved category until their devolution to the Assembly in 2010. See also Practice Note: The mechanics of devolution.
Although an Assembly met in shadow form from 1998, full operation began in late 1999. It was then suspended for several months in 2000, on two separate occasions in 2001, for an extended period from October 2002 to May 2007, and again between...
Public Law
PRACTICE NOTES
Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive: elections, formation, powers, committees and legislative procedure
This Practice Note outlines the Northern Ireland Assembly, explaining how its representatives are chosen and how it legislates. The wider landscape of decision-making in Northern Ireland—highlighting distinctive aspects of devolution shaped by recent history—is addressed separately in Practice Note: The process of decision making in Northern Ireland...
Which voting system is used in Northern Ireland Assembly elections?
Each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland returns five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) using the Single Transferable Vote system. In proportion to the population it serves, the Assembly is comparatively larger than the devolved legislatures in other parts of the United Kingdom. The Assembly cannot enact laws to alter its own size unless cross-community approval is achieved...
The Assembly operates on a fixed term under section 31(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, with separate provision for extraordinary Assembly elections in section 32 of the same Act...
Public Law
FLOWCHARTS
Procedural stages of a Bill in the Northern Ireland Assembly: flowchart
Flowchart
This Flowchart sets out the steps for a Bill to become an Act in the Northern Ireland Assembly. This Flowchart should be considered alongside Practice Notes: Structure and operation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and The process of decision making in Northern Ireland...
Public Law
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