This chapter briefly reviews the findings of the last three chapters on the key features of executive structure and practice and on legality, before trying to assess their significance. The subservience of the United Kingdom executive to the judiciary and its dominance of the legislature is demonstrated. The administrative heterogeneity and the growth of judicial review are two sources of erosion that are particularly relevant to ideas and practice concerning the organization and delivery of legal advice. It has been shown how adaptations to the new challenges being presented by...

This chapter briefly reviews the findings of the last three chapters on the key features of executive structure and practice and on legality, before trying to assess their significance. The subservience of the United Kingdom executive to the judiciary and its dominance of the legislature is demonstrated. The administrative heterogeneity and the growth of judicial review are two sources of erosion that are particularly relevant to ideas and practice concerning the organization and delivery of legal advice. It has been shown how adaptations to the new challenges being presented by ‘agencification’, judicial review, European law, and other factors of change are being made within the pluralist, departmentally-based model of executive legal services, rather than by any moves towards a more centralized legal function.