Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Constitution University of
Oxford - Faculty of Law October 9, 2009 Canadian Journal of Law
and Jurisprudence, 2009 Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No.
45/2009 The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty of the United
Kingdom parliament is often presented as a unique legal
arrangement, one without parallel in comparative constitutional
law. By giving unconditional power to the Westminster
parliament, it appears to rule out any comparison between the
Westminster Parliament and the United States Congress or the
German Bundestag, whose powers are limited by their respective
constitutions. Parliament in the UK appears to determine the law
unconditionally and without limit. Nevertheless, a fuller
understanding of parliamentary sovereignty as a legal and
constitutional doctrine shows that this first impression is
false. The nature of the British unwritten constitutional order
is entirely similar to the written one prevailing in the United
States or Germany. This is because the doc