Iain Duncan Smith: Common Law Was the Prize of Brexit

Sir Iain Duncan Smith argues post-Brexit Britain still has not used its freedom — and that English common law, not EU-style acquired rights, underpins property, habeas corpus and markets.

Former Conservative leader and Brexit campaigner Sir Iain Duncan Smith used his CPAC UK slot to argue that leaving the EU was necessary but incomplete: regulation and legal culture still need a decisive turn back toward English common law.

He pointed to his Task Force on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) report and said common law — property rights, habeas corpus, rights that grow through precedent rather than "acquired" ECHR-style rights — is "arguably the greatest legal system ever created by mankind" and the foundation of free markets.