main sources of UK constitution

• Statute law

  • Law of constitutional importance created by Parliament
  • Highest legal authority
  • E.g. 1998 HRA or 1949 Parliament Act
• Conventions

  • Established political norms which are considered legally binding
  • Salisbury Convention - Lords cannot oppose legislation in a government’s manifesto
• Authoritative works

  • By legal scholars, only guides
  • Blackstone on Parliamentary Sovereignty
  • Bagehot's The English Constitution
  • Erkskine May - guide on parliamentary procedure
• Common law

  • Well established and generally followed
  • Common law principles often replaced by statutes
  • Prerogative powers of the PM
  • Basic rights protection
• Treaties

  • 1956 ECHR
  • 1992 Maastricht Treaty which gave political sovereignty to the EU
  • Article 50