Teaching Constitutional Law in the United Kingdom

• Author: Carlo A. Pedrioli
• Position: Southern University Law Center in Louisiana
• Pages: 448-472

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2021 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

For feedback on prior versions of this paper, the author thanks Ian Johnson and

Richard Lang, two veterans of U.K. higher education.

tEaChing Constitutional law in

thE unitEd Kingdom

Carlo A. Pedrioli

Southern University Law Center in Louisiana

E-mail: carlo_pedrioli@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, I received an oer for a position in the United King-

dom that British academics would refer to as a permanent position.1

Such a position is an ongoing, rather than a xed-term, position.2 I

was asked to teach Constitutional Law in Liverpool, a major city in

the North West of England that had become one of England’s leading

ports in the late seventeenth century.3 In the United States, Liverpool is

probably best known as the home of the 1960s rock band the Beatles.4

Despite having suered great economic hardship during the 1970s

1. United Kingdom, Academic Career Structure, E. U. I, https://

www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/

AcademicCareersbyCountry/UnitedKingdom (last visited Jan. 27, 2022).

2. Id.

3. Paul G. E. Clemens, e Rise of Liverpool, 1665-1750, 29 E. H. R. 211,

211 (1976). A dark side of Liverpool’s success as a port city was its signicant

role in the slave trade. Id. at 218-22.

4. Dan Murano, In Liverpool, the Beatles Are Everywhere, W. P (Mar. 1,

2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/02/29/in-

liverpool-the-beatles-are-everywhere/.

449

Teaching Constitutional Law in the United Kingdom

Pedrioli

and 1980s, a time when the docks on the River Mersey closed and

half the local manufacturing sector disappeared,5 Liverpool has plenty

more that is going for it today than the Beatles. e city is home to

numerous historical buildings in architectural styles such as Georgian

and Victorian,6 two twentieth-century cathedrals,7 various museums

like the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery

Museum,8 and plenty of hospitality.9 Liverpool is also a major draw for

soccer, or football, as Europeans and others call it, tourism.10 e city

was the European Capital of Culture in 2008, which brought in plenty

of additional visitors and thus revenue.11 At the Royal Albert Dock on

5. Helen Grady, e English City at Wanted to “Break Away” from the UK,

BBC N (Nov. 8, 2014), https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29953611.

6. Liverpool Architecture, V L, https://www.visitliverpool.com/

things-to-do/maritime-and-heritage/liverpool-architecture (last visited Jan.

27, 2022).

7. L C, https://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/ (last visited

Jan. 27, 2022); M C  C  K, https://

www.liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/ (last visited Jan. 27, 2022).

8. Maritime Museum, N’ M L, https://www.

liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime-museum (last visited Jan. 27, 2022);

International Slavery Museum, N’ M L, https://www.

liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum (last visited Jan. 27,

2022).

9. See Covid: £40m Hospitality Fund for Liverpool City Region, BBC N (Oct. 5,

2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-54415873 (noting

the presence of over 50,000 hospitality jobs in the Liverpool area).

10. Steve Price, Manchester and Liverpool are England’s Soccer Tourism Hubs,

F (Oct. 25, 2021), https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveprice/2021/10/25/

manchester-and-liverpool-are-englands-soccer-tourism-

hubs/?sh=5fcd76bb3e72.

11. Helen Carter, Liverpool Proted from Year as Capital of Culture, Says Report:

Designation Brought in Millions of Extra Visitors and Pounds in 2008,

Says Research, G (Mar. 11, 2010), https://www.theguardian.com/

travel/2010/mar/11/liverpool-proted-from-being-culture-capital.

Between 2004 and 2021, parts of the city, including the Victorian St. George’s

Hall in the city center and the iconic waterfront by the River Mersey, were

designated as comprising a UNESCO World Heritage site. Liverpool Stripped of

ENESCO World Heritage Status, BBC N (July 21, 2021), https://www.bbc.

com/news/uk-england-merseyside-57879475#:~:text=Liverpool%20has%20

been%20stripped%20of,at%20a%20meeting%20in%20China. In 2021, the