Claim of Right

The Claim of Right overturns the creation of laws by royal decree and states that only a parliament has the authority to pass laws which govern the people of Scotland.

It was affirmed by an Act of the Scottish Parliament of 1703 (Act Ratifying the turning of the Meeting of the Estates in the year 1689, into a Parliament). The Act was retained by the Parliament of the United Kingdom after the Acts of Union 1707.

In 2019, the Act was cited by MPs seeking a court ruling that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's September 2019 prorogation of Parliament was unlawful. The Court of Session Outer House judge, Lord Doherty found the claim was non-justiciable, and that if it was justiciable then there was no breach of the Claim of Right. The Inner House allowed the appeal, ruling the issue justiciable and the prorogation unlawful, since its true purpose was to "stymie Parliamentary scrutiny of government action".

References

1. Claim of Right Act 1689.Wikipedia
2. Claim of Right Act 1689 The National Archives