A judge has dismissed the UK's first legal challenge to Brexit.
Mr Justice Paul Maguire said the implications for Northern Ireland were still uncertain after Prime Minister Theresa May said she would begin exit negotiations with Europe before March.
A cross-party group of politicians had claimed the country should have a veto on an exit and said the Stormont Assembly should have a say on whether to trigger negotiations with Europe.
Read more: Tony Blair - Remain voters should mobilise against Brexit
Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries, had a separate Brexit challenge surrounding its impact on the peace process heard alongside that of the politicians at the High Court in Belfast.
Mr Justice Maguire said: "While the wind of change may be about to blow, the precise direction in which it will blow cannot yet be determined so there is a level of uncertainty, as evidenced by the discussion about how the Northern Ireland land border with Ireland was affected by withdrawal from the EU."
He added: "In respect of all issues, the court dismissed the applications."
The court did not consider the role of Parliament in the calling of talks - separate legal proceedings are taking place in England.
Read more: Tony Blair - Remain voters should mobilise against Brexit
The Belfast case was heard earlier this month and concentrated on the impact on the Northern Ireland constitution of Mrs May's proposed action.
The judge rejected five grounds of appeal:
:: That the Prime Minister's royal prerogative power cannot be exercised to trigger negotiations because it has been displaced by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and associated laws and an Act of Parliament is required;
- That, if an Act of Parliament is required, the Stormont Assembly should consent to it;
- That the referendum result should not be given excessive weight when considering whether to trigger talks;
- That the Northern Ireland Office had failed to comply with equality legislation;
Read more: Tony Blair - Remain voters should mobilise against Brexit
- That the Good Friday peace agreement which largely ended violence had created an expectation that there would be no change to Northern Ireland's constitutional status without the consent of its people.
The judge said it was difficult to see how the court could overlook the fact that the UK Parliament had retained the ability to legislate for Northern Ireland without any special procedure.
He said this power of the Prime Minister's was not one in which the court could intervene: "Any suggestion that a legitimate expectation can overwhelm the structure of the legislative scheme is not viable."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article