The British Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The British Constitution - Essay Example This discussion outlines that parliamentary sovereignty is the main feature of British constitution. Though the constitution is unwritten in one single document, it is not entirely unwritten. It is also mostly embedded in the written form through various statutes, judgments and treaties apart from the conventional principles. In countries like the USA whose democratic origin has been very recent, writing constitution for a new country after their independence from British rule was a necessity. But, parliamentary democracy in Britain has a very long history and the Parliament of UK is one of the oldest democratic institutions in the world. After the merger of the Parliament of Scotland in 1707 and Ireland in 1801 with the English Parliament, it has been known as the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The country has an established judiciary system with a long history and the system has been evolving over the period of time mainly based on precedents in the legal landscape. This paper stresses that that parliamentary sovereignty is the fundamental principle of the un-codified British Constitution. There were controversies at the time of UK’s accession to European community based on the concerns that law-making functions could eventually be transferred to the EC Commission and the Council of Ministers. After the accession of the UK to  European Economic Community, European common law has gained preeminence in the UK which is inevitable. In Thoburn v Sunderland City Council it was observed â€Å"All the specific rights and obligations which EU law creates are by the ECA incorporated into our domestic law and rank supreme.