1. L2.9: Constitution and
Government 3
 To explore whether a written Constitution
would influence and limit powers of Government
more than an unwritten one.
 To compare the US Constitution with the
UK one

2. UK Constitution and Parliamentary Sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament
the supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law. Generally,
the courts cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future
Parliaments cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of
the UK constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty and the UK constitution
People often refer to the UK having an 'unwritten constitution' but that's not strictly
true. It may not exist in a single text, like in the USA or Germany, but large parts of it
are written down, much of it in the laws passed in Parliament - known as statute law.
Therefore, the UK constitution is often described as 'partly written and wholly
uncodified'. (Uncodified means that the UK does not have a single, written
constitution.)
Developments affecting Parliamentary sovereignty
Over the years, Parliament has passed laws that limit the application of
parliamentary sovereignty. These laws reflect political developments both within and
outside the UK.
They include:
·The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish Parliament and Welsh
Assembly.
·The Human Rights Act 1998.
·The UK's entry to the European Union in 1972.
·The decision to establish a UK Supreme Court in 2009, which ends the House of
Lords function as the UK's final court of appeal.
These developments do not fundamentally undermine the principle of parliamentary
sovereignty, since, in theory at least, Parliament could repeal any of the laws
implementing these changes.
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/sovereignty/

3. Question 1: In this article, they state that it is not strictly true to
say that the British Constitution is unwritten. What do they say
is the correct way of describing the Constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament the
supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law. Generally, the courts
cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments
cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of the UK
constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty and the UK constitution
People often refer to the UK having an 'unwritten constitution' but that's not strictly true. It
may not exist in a single text, like in the USA or Germany, but large parts of it are written
down, much of it in the laws passed in Parliament - known as statute law.
Therefore, the UK constitution is often described as 'partly written and wholly uncodified'.
(Uncodified means that the UK does not have a single, written constitution.)
Developments affecting Parliamentary sovereignty
Over the years, Parliament has passed laws that limit the application of parliamentary
sovereignty. These laws reflect political developments both within and outside the UK.
They include:
·The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
·The Human Rights Act 1998.
·The UK's entry to the European Union in 1972.
·The decision to establish a UK Supreme Court in 2009, which ends the House of Lords
function as the UK's final court of appeal.
These developments do not fundamentally undermine the principle of parliamentary
sovereignty, since, in theory at least, Parliament could repeal any of the laws
implementing these changes.

4. Question 2: Where do they say that some parts of the Constitution
are written?
Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament
the supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law. Generally,
the courts cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future
Parliaments cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of
the UK constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty and the UK constitution
People often refer to the UK having an 'unwritten constitution' but that's not strictly
true. It may not exist in a single text, like in the USA or Germany, but large parts of it
are written down, much of it in the laws passed in Parliament - known as statute law.
Therefore, the UK constitution is often described as 'partly written and wholly
uncodified'. (Uncodified means that the UK does not have a single, written
constitution.)
Developments affecting Parliamentary sovereignty
Over the years, Parliament has passed laws that limit the application of
parliamentary sovereignty. These laws reflect political developments both within and
outside the UK.
They include:
·The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish Parliament and Welsh
Assembly.
·The Human Rights Act 1998.
·The UK's entry to the European Union in 1972.
·The decision to establish a UK Supreme Court in 2009, which ends the House of
Lords function as the UK's final court of appeal.
These developments do not fundamentally undermine the principle of parliamentary
sovereignty, since, in theory at least, Parliament could repeal any of the laws
implementing these changes.

5. Question 3: What does the term Parliamentary Sovereignty mean?
Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament
the supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law. Generally,
the courts cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future
Parliaments cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of
the UK constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty and the UK constitution
People often refer to the UK having an 'unwritten constitution' but that's not strictly
true. It may not exist in a single text, like in the USA or Germany, but large parts of it
are written down, much of it in the laws passed in Parliament - known as statute law.
Therefore, the UK constitution is often described as 'partly written and wholly
uncodified'. (Uncodified means that the UK does not have a single, written
constitution.)
Developments affecting Parliamentary sovereignty
Over the years, Parliament has passed laws that limit the application of
parliamentary sovereignty. These laws reflect political developments both within and
outside the UK.
They include:
·The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish Parliament and Welsh
Assembly.
·The Human Rights Act 1998.
·The UK's entry to the European Union in 1972.
·The decision to establish a UK Supreme Court in 2009, which ends the House of
Lords function as the UK's final court of appeal.
These developments do not fundamentally undermine the principle of parliamentary
sovereignty, since, in theory at least, Parliament could repeal any of the laws
implementing these changes.

6. Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament the
supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law. Generally, the courts
cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments
cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of the UK
constitution.
Parliamentary sovereignty and the UK constitution
People often refer to the UK having an 'unwritten constitution' but that's not strictly true. It
may not exist in a single text, like in the USA or Germany, but large parts of it are written
down, much of it in the laws passed in Parliament - known as statute law.
Therefore, the UK constitution is often described as 'partly written and wholly uncodified'.
(Uncodified means that the UK does not have a single, written constitution.)
Developments affecting Parliamentary sovereignty
Over the years, Parliament has passed laws that limit the application of parliamentary
sovereignty. These laws reflect political developments both within and outside the UK.
They include:
·The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
·The Human Rights Act 1998.
·The UK's entry to the European Union in 1972.
·The decision to establish a UK Supreme Court in 2009, which ends the House of Lords
function as the UK's final court of appeal.
These developments do not fundamentally undermine the principle of parliamentary
sovereignty, since, in theory at least, Parliament could repeal any of the laws
implementing these changes.
Biggest
Impact
Least
Impact

7. In your group, investigate one of these Constitutional
changes and find out what it means and what it involves
What impact has the constitutional change that
you have just researched/investigated had?
In your groups report back
your findings back to the
class and then you can repeat
the ranking activity,
considering how you have
changed your mind now that
you have further information.

8. If Parliament decided we all had to drive cars that look
like this and that we could no longer use the words
banana or cool and that it would be a serious offence to
use the phrase ‘cool banana’. They could do that. We
have not got a Bill of Rights that sets out our rights and
freedoms.

9. What is good about
Parliamentary Sovereignty?
What are
the dangers?

10. ‘this is the device which protects the Constitution from shortterm change. This is how a Constitution is protected from
interference from temporary Government. It would be
something that even Parliament could not just change via
Parliamentary vote. At the moment, there is - theoretically
- nothing that Parliament cannot change.’

11. American Constitution
This explains some of the principles of the US Constitution as
being based on:
• Popular sovereignty
• Limited Government (Constitutionalism)
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Federalism
Working in pairs, can you write a short definition of
what each of these means.

12. In the USA, the Supreme Court can
rule a piece of legislation
‘Unconstitutional’

13. L2.9: Constitutional and
Government 3
 To explore whether a written Constitution
would influence and limit powers of Government
more than an unwritten one.
-What do you think? Does it?
 To compare the US Constitution with the
UK one
- What differences can you name