Brexit begins : an overview if the legal issues

An analysis of the legal process for the UK to withdraw from the European Union. The tumultuous result of the recent EU referendum has seismic implications for the United Kingdom, its constituent parts and of course the European Union itself. The nature of the future relationship between the UK and the EU, the question of Scottish independence and membership of the EU, increasing calls for unifying Ireland, the risk of Eurosceptic contagion affecting the rest of the EU and the nature, scope and focus of the new 27 member bloc EU are all huge existential questions, the implications of which will reverberate for years to come. The more immediate legal question to address, and one that has been largely side-lined by the bigger picture problems, is that of the actual process of extricating the UK from the EU legal system. The process for withdrawal is not without uncertainty. The new process for withdrawal is set out in article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and has only been in force since 2009, when the Treaty of Lisbon came into force. Thus, the process is nascent, without legal precedent and ambiguous.