In British constitutional law, the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty maintains that Parliament has unlimited legislative authority. Critics have recently challenged this doctrine, on historical and philosophical grounds. This book describes its historical origins and development and identifies the reasons why it was adopted, examines its current legal basis, and responds to the critics.

• 1: Introduction


• 2: Defining Parliamentary Sovereignty


• A. Parliament and Sovereignty Defined


• B. Sovereignty and Higher Law


• 3: From Bracton to the Reformation


• A. Medieval Kingship, Law and Politics


• B. Parliament and its Authority


• C. Parliament as a Law-maker


• D. Parliament and the Courts


• E. Parliament in Legal Theory


• F. Parliament and the Church


• 4: The Sixteenth Century


• A. The Authority of Parliament Extended


• B. The Supremacy of Parliament Recognised


• C. Two Theories of the Authority of Parliament


• D. Royalist Theories


• E. Parliamentarian Theories


• F. Prelude to the Seventeenth Century


• 5: From James I to the Restoration


• A. Political Theories in Early Stuart England


• B. Royalist Theories of the Authority of Parliament


• C. Parliamentarian Theories of the Authority of Parliament


• D. Common Law Theories of the Authority of Parliament


• E. Parliamentary Sovereignty Affirmed


• F. The Interregnum


• 6: From the Restoration to the Revolution


• A. Monarchist Ideologies


• B. Whig Ideology


• 7: After the Revolution


• A. Whig and Tory Consensus


• B. The Union of England and Scotland


• C. Legal Sovereignty, Popular Sovereignty, and the Right of Resistance


• D. Law-Making Power and Constitutional Principle


• E. British Opinion During the American Crisis


• F. Judicial Opinion and Legal Theory


• G. American Revolutionary Constitutional Theory


• H. The Reform Movement in Britain


• 8: The Nineteenth Century


• 9: Historical Conclusions


• 10: The Philosophical Foundations of Parliamentary Sovereignty


• A. Parliamentary Sovereignty and Legal Philosophy


• B. Law as the Foundation of Law-making Authority


• C. The Common Law as the Foundation of Law-making Authority


• D. Legal Principles as the Foundation of Law-making Authority


• E. The Practice of British Officials


• F. Official Consensus as the Foundation of Law-making Authority


• G. The Argument From Extreme Cases


• H. Further Arguments


• I. The Alleged Necessity of Judicially Enforceable Constitutional Rights


• Bibliography

Professor Jeffrey Goldsworthy is Professor of Law at Monash University, Australia