Keith David Ewing (born 29 March 1955) is professor of public law at King's College London and recognised as a leading scholar in public law, constitutional law, law of democracy, labour law and human rights.
Ewing's work has been considered as "one of the leading lights of English public law". He has been recognised as "one of the world's leading scholars of the constitution of social democracy" and is a co-author of two of Britain's leading textbooks in constitutional and administrative law, and labour law.
Biography
Ewing went to law school at Edinburgh University, where he graduated in 1976. He then went to Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, to write his PhD in Law. In 1978, he went back to Edinburgh University to teach. Ewing taught at Edinburgh University (1978-1983) and at University of Cambridge (1983-1989), before becoming Professor of Public Law at King's College London School of Law in 1989. He has also taught at several universities in Australia (such as University of Melbourne and Monash University) and Canada (such as Osgoode Hall).
Professor Ewing is the author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and published several book chapters and journal articles in leading journals around the world. His work recognise the significance of an integrated and broad vision of the constitutional order. He was perhaps the first scholar to coin the term ‘juristocracy’, to describe "the way democratic societies can be crushed by unelected judges under cover of ostensible principles like ‘the rule of law’ and ‘the protection of human rights’".
Ewing has written extensively on the funding of political parties and has been regarded as "the most prolific and influential scholar in political finance in the common law world beyond the US". His first book on the topic – The Funding of Political Parties in Britain – was published by Cambridge University Press in 1987.
He has also important work relating to reforming labour law to strengthen trade union freedom, constitutional reform, relating to public participation in the political process and the status of social and economic rights..
In 2020, Ewing published the well received article COVID-19: Government by Decree at the King's Law Journal, where he argued that there was a failure on the part of the British Parliament to discharge its basic constitutional duties; and the book MI5, the Cold War, and the Rule of Law published by Oxford University Press.
To celebrate Ewing's scholarly legacy, papers in his honour were published in a book by Hart-Bloomsbury in 2020 (The Constitution of Social Democracy: Essays in Honour of Keith Ewing), edited by Professor Alison Young (Cambridge University), Professor Alan Bogg (Bristol University), and Professor Jacob Rowbottom (Oxford University).
Publications
Books (selected) MI5, the Cold War, and the Rule of Law (Oxford University Press 2020) A Manifesto for Labour Law (2016) (with Jacob Rowbottom and Joo-Cheong Tham) The Funding of Political Parties: Where Now? (Routledge 2011) The Bonfire of the Liberties (Oxford University Press 2010) (with AW Bradley) Constitutional and Administrative Law (Longman 2007) The Cost of Democracy: Party Funding in Modern British Politics (Hart Publishing 2007) (with Samuel Issacharoff) Party Funding And Campaign Financing in International Perspective (Hart Publishing 2006) Columbia-London Law Series (with Hugh Collins and Aileen McColgan) Labour Law, Text, Cases and Materials (Hart Publishing 2005) (with Tom Campbell and Adam Tomkins) Skeptical Essays on Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2002) (with Conor Gearty) The Struggle for Civil Liberties (Oxford University Press 2000) Money, Politics and Law: A Study of Electoral Campaign Finance Reform in Canada (Clarendon Press 1992) (with Conor Gearty) Freedom under Thatcher: Civil Liberties in Modern Britain (Oxford University Press 1990) Britain and the ILO (1989) The Funding of Political Parties in Britain (Cambridge University Press 1987) Trade Unions, the Labour Party, and the Law: A Study of the Trade Union Act 1913 (Edinburgh University Press 1982)
Recent articles and chapters (selected)