AP TELEVISION

London - 12 October 2016

1. Big Ben

2. Union flag

3. Big Ben and Parliament

4. Close of Parliament

5. Close of 'Out' sign

6. Pan down of Parliament

7. Set up of Gina Miller, entrepreneur, bringing lawsuit against the Government over Article 50

8. Mid of Miller

9. Close of hands

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Gina Miller, entrepreneur, bringing lawsuit against the Government over Article 50:

"I think it's about whether or not the government can use this ancient Royal prerogative. Because if we can park Article 50 for a moment and Brexit, we have an unwritten, uncoded constitution, which means that if the precedent is set, that a government can bypass parliament, so an MP and a group of ministers, a handful of ministers, can decide your rights and my rights then I think we've rolled back the clock 400 years when it comes to sovereignty and democracy. And that to me is a much much bigger worry than Brexit. I think we go back almost to a dictatorship."

11. Cutaway

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Gina Miller, entrepreneur, bringing lawsuit against the Government over Article 50:

"Our parliament is sovereign. And the idea that Mrs May said that we're going to get back sovereignty, actually Parliament is sovereign and it is only Parliament that can bestow and take away people's rights. And by triggering Article 50 there will inevitably be a reduction in people's rights. So we're going to the courts, and I think the courts need to rule on the legal certainty of how we can leave the EU."

13. Wide of Royal Courts of Justice, which houses High Court

14. Soft focus Royal Courts of Justice sign

15. Tilt down of courts

16. Mid of courts

17. Set up shot of Dr Andrew Blick, Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, Kings College London

18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr Andrew Blick, Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, Kings College London:

"There is a kind of grey area, opened up whereby the government think first that they are bound to abide by the result of this referendum. Nothing was said about that in the legislation, but the government believe it's a binding result, that they have to go along with the leave verdict, and they also believe they have the sole power to put that verdict into action under an authority known as the Royal prerogative. Whether or not they really possess that power, whether they really can act unilaterally to take us out of the European Union, to trigger Article 50, of the treaty on the European Union, is what's being tested in the courts."

19. Royal Courts of Justice sign

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Andrew Blick, Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, Kings College London:

"Even is something is legal, it doesn't mean that it's constitutional. Just because the government can behave in this way, some people in the court and outside the court may be of the view that that doesn't mean it should behave in this way. And that, actually, whatever the law is in the end, constitutionally, parliament should be more involved in this than the government wants it to be."

21. Royal Courts of Justice sign

Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller's lawsuit begins with a simple question: can Prime Minister Theresa May start negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union without an act of Parliament?

But the suit, described by some legal experts as the U.K.'s most important constitutional case in decades, seeks to answer much bigger questions about where power lies in this nation's democracy and whether rights can be revoked without a vote of lawmakers.

May says the June 23 referendum on EU membership gave her a mandate to take Britain out of the bloc and that discussing the details of her strategy with Parliament would weaken the government's negotiating position.

May has announced plans to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty, starting talks on Britain's future relationship with the single market, by the end March.

The lawsuit, hearings on which begin Thursday at the High Court in London, could derail those plans.

Miller, 51, runs SCM Private, an online investment manager, and is also a lawyer.

Miller, who supported the campaign to stay in the EU, says the case isn't about blocking Brexit - or keeping Britain in the EU.

Andrew Blick, an expert on the Magna Carta at King's College London, said the case involves an argument that dates back almost 400 years to the English Civil War as to whether power ultimately rests in the executive or Parliament.

Underscoring the importance of the case, May put Attorney General Jeremy Wright in charge of the legal team fighting the suit, making the announcement with a flourish at the recent Conservative Party Conference as she underscored she would "make a success'' of taking the country out of the EU.

Wright argues that the suit is an attempt to put a legal obstacle in the way of enacting the referendum result.

At issue is May's attempt to use Royal Prerogative, historic powers officially held by the queen, to trigger Article 50.

The powers, which have in reality passed to politicians, enable decisions to be made without a vote of Parliament and cover matters as grave as declaring war or as basic as issuing passports.

Historically, Royal Prerogative has also applied to foreign affairs and the negotiation of treaties.

Miller argues that Parliament should decide whether to invoke Article 50 - after a full debate and vote - because the rights of individuals are being revoked in the process.

Freedom of movement, freedom of trade and freedom to vote in European elections are among the rights that will change.

Politically, though, there's growing cross-party pressure to give Parliament a say on Brexit strategy before Article 50 is invoked.

A motion debated Wednesday in the House of Commons demands that lawmakers have a chance to "properly scrutinize,'' the Brexit strategy before the formal exit process begins.