The nature and sources of the UK constitution

A constitution is a set of rules that sets out the powers and functions of various government institutions.

The nature of the UK constitution

• Unentrenched
  • can be amended by an individual government or Parliament
• Uncodified
  • does not have a single source and is not contained in a single document
  • has not been created at one part in time
  • constitutional rules are more difficult to establish
  • flexible and can easily be changed, so they are unentrenched
• Unitary
  • a system of government where legal sovereignty lies in one place
  • power can be delegated to subsidary bodies, but this power can be returned to the sovereign body
• Parliamentary sovereignty
  • AV Dicey (1885) - under the english constitution parliament has the right to "make or unmake any law whatever" and no other body can challenge this 
  • Article IX of the Bill of Rights (1689) - "procedings in Parliament ought…