Parliamentary Supremacy and the Uk's Constitution (Uk)
To What Extent Does the Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy Explain why the UK Continues to Have an Uncodified Constitution?
It is well known among the legal and political communities across the world that the UK possesses quite a unique constitution. Our constitution is different to most others, with the possible exception of Israel and New Zealand, because it is not codified, or contained within one written document. The most recognisable codified constitution is that of the USA, which is contained in one old, formal looking document that is freely available for their public to see.
Having an uncodified constitution has been a somewhat contentious issue for the British over time; however the real question that must be asked is why we continue to proceed with an uncodified document and what reason(s) we have for not having codified it some time ago, in accordance with most of the rest of the world. One such potential reason is that it may infringe on the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy and that a codified constitution would become the de facto supreme control on British laws, as opposed to Parliament, which has been sovereign since the Bill of Rights was passed in 1689. Of course, there are those that would argue that the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy has little or no effect on our continued use of an uncodified constitution.
The first argument for our continued use of an uncodified constitution being down to the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy could be formulated from Dicey’s analysis of the constitution, which sets out the fact that Parliament is indeed sovereign and must remain so, regardless of the constitution or monarch in place at the current time. From this, it could be taken that the constitution has not been codified and made the highest form of legal authority so that the judiciary would not be able to override and refuse to observe Parliamentary statutes on the basis of them being ‘unconstitutional’, as could be done in America.
It is well known among the legal and political communities across the world that the UK possesses quite a unique constitution. Our constitution is different to most others, with the possible exception of Israel and New Zealand, because it is not codified, or contained within one written document. The most recognisable codified constitution is that of the USA, which is contained in one old, formal looking document that is freely available for their public to see.
Having an uncodified constitution has been a somewhat contentious issue for the British over time; however the real question that must be asked is why we continue to proceed with an uncodified document and what reason(s) we have for not having codified it some time ago, in accordance with most of the rest of the world. One such potential reason is that it may infringe on the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy and that a codified constitution would become the de facto supreme control on British laws, as opposed to Parliament, which has been sovereign since the Bill of Rights was passed in 1689. Of course, there are those that would argue that the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy has little or no effect on our continued use of an uncodified constitution.
The first argument for our continued use of an uncodified constitution being down to the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy could be formulated from Dicey’s analysis of the constitution, which sets out the fact that Parliament is indeed sovereign and must remain so, regardless of the constitution or monarch in place at the current time. From this, it could be taken that the constitution has not been codified and made the highest form of legal authority so that the judiciary would not be able to override and refuse to observe Parliamentary statutes on the basis of them being ‘unconstitutional’, as could be done in America.
Bibliography: Books: * Bogdanor, V., ‘The New British Constitution’ (2009 Hart Publishing, Oxford) [ 10 ]. Bogdanor, V., ‘The New British Constitution’, ‘Chapter One: A Peculiar Constitution’ (2009 Hart Publishing, Oxford) [ 11 ]