Geoffrey Marshall (22 April 1929 – 24 June 2003) was a leading

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

theorist in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, best known for his work around the

British constitution The constitution of the United Kingdom comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, no official attempt has been made to c ...

Early life

Marshall was born in Chesterfield on 22 April 1929. His family moved to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, and Marshall joined Arnold School on a county scholarship. He turned down a place at

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, on the grounds that the facilities' heating was not good enough. Instead, in 1947 he joined

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, reading Politics and Economics, and graduated in 1950. He attended lectures by

Harold Laski Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of ...

and was asked to prepare them for publication, which he did under the title ''Reflections on the Constitution''.

Career

His first book, ''Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Commonwealth'', was published in 1957. He described "

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

" as "an institutional arrangement resting upon an idea, and the idea is one which has philosophical (and even theological) implications". In 1959, his second book, co-authored by Graeme Moodie, was entitled ''Some Problems of the Constitution'' and dealt with

ministerial responsibility In Westminster system, Westminster-style governments, individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention that a Cabinet (government), cabinet minister (government), minister bears th ...

. He examined the controls on government and the means of redress of the citizen against the state. He was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and tutor in Politics at The Queens's College, Oxford, in 1957, where he stayed until his retirement in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Geoffrey 1929 births 2003 deaths English constitutionalists Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Provosts of the Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford