' With the advent of the Supreme Court in the UK, from October 2009, there has been

a marked

increase in the clarity of constitutional dispensations. Specifically, the judiciary has been

significantly separated from the legislature1. The Supreme Court has taken over the judicial role

of the Law Lords.

Another key theme in the literature assessing the UK constitution is the idea that it has in recent
decades – and particularly since 1997 – been subject to increasing change. There is a view that as a
consequence of cumulative changes since the 1970s parliamentary sovereignty has been eroded.
The UK constitution is often assessed from an historical perspective. Its antiquity and continuity are
frequently accentuated. The longevity of the constitution may be regarded as valuable in its own
right.19 A review of prerogative powers issued by the Labour government in 2009 stated: ‘Our
constitution has developed organically over many centuries and change should not be proposed for
change’s sake’.20

Arguments for the desirability of parliamentary sovereignty tend to centre on the idea that it is a
major source of the supposed merits of the un-codified UK constitution such as its flexibility and
strength32; and that it is a guarantor of democracy, since the dominant component of Parliament,
the Commons, is elected.33 Parliamentary sovereignty is sometimes said to have come in practice
and regrettably to mean dominance by an executive under the control of whichever group
possesses a majority in the House of Commons; and the geographical centralisation of power. 34 In
the assessment of some it overrides the other supposed traditional central feature of the UK
settlement, the rule of law;35 though not all agree.36

Most of those who propose codified UK constitutions considered here appear to envisage
constitutional supremacy as supplanting the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty; with judges able
to rule acts of Parliament incompatible with the constitution and strike them down.

Source http://www.parliament.uk/pagefiles/56954/CPCS%20Literature%20Review
%20%284%29.pdf

1
Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court, 21 August 2009, Retrieved on 1 March 2010 from
http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/supremecourt.htm