Constitutional and Administrative Law

In most countries a codified constitution explains the overarching relationship between individuals and the state and establishes a coherent hierarchy of authoritative sources of law. The absence of a codified UK Constitution means that constitutionally significant rules can be found in a range of legal sources including statutes, statutory instruments, the Royal Prerogative and judicial decisions. There is even a prominent role for political understandings, known as conventions. This chapter compares the operation of the UK Constitution to the codified constitutions adopted in most other liberal democracies and introduces constitutional debates which will be developed in later chapters.