The Good Law Project is a United Kingdom-based political non-profit company. Founded by
Jolyon Maugham
Jolyon Toby Dennis Maugham (; born 1 July 1971) is a British barrister. A taxation law specialist, he is the founder and director of the Good Law Project, through which he has played a role in bringing to court a number of legal challenges to th ...
, the Good Law Project states that its mission is to achieve change through the law.
History
The Good Law Project was founded in January 2017 as a company limited by guarantee under English law
headed by Maugham. It is a non-profit but not a registered charity. In 2019 it launched a crowdfunded challenge to the
prorogation
Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the peri ...
of parliament by
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
's Conservative government, which was ultimately successful. The prorogation was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court,
[
] but by this time Johnson's government had pushed through their Brexit deal so the issue was moot. However, the £200,000 raised enabled Good Law Project to hire more staff and launch other fundraisers to take on more cases.
As of September 2021 Good Law Project has applied for Judicial Review in 14 cases and been granted approval in 11.
In 2022, the
High Court ruled that the Good Law Project does not have 'carte blanche' for bringing in judicial reviews.
Cases
Abingdon Health
The Good Law Project challenged the Secretary for Health and Social Care, claiming that the COVID testing contracts with Abingdon Health were unlawful because they were not advertised nor open to competition, and the correct procurement process was bypassed. On 7 October 2022 the High Court ruled that the contracts were lawful, so Good Law Project lost the case.
LGB Alliance
In September 2022, the charity Mermaids went to court to appeal the Charity Commission's decision to grant LGB Alliance charitable status. This action was supported by the Good Law Project.
References
External links
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British political websites
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