(1) It establishes, or constitutes, the system of government, hence it is prior to the system of government, rules cannot be derived from that system; (2) it involves an authority outside and above the order it establishes - the notion of constituent power' - this power in a liberal democracy should be attributed to the people who legitimize the constitution and hence the governmental system; (3) this form of law supersedes other laws because it originates in a higher authority than the legislature; and, (4) it is entrenched because its purpose is to limit the powers of Government
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The US and the British constitutional models diverge on two main points. First, the defining characteristic of the US Constitution is that it constitutes and reconstitutes the system of government. Second, while in Britain popular sovereignty' is viewed as residing in Parliament, Americans do not consider any body as sovereign' but the law and the constitution. Political culture in the United States is defined as getting laws passed. Dissatisfaction with the system of government is expressed by trying to force a new more favorable interpretation of the constitution. Traditionally, British usage of the Constitution has taken a different form. As Ridley has put it: Everywhere save Britain the constitution is defined as a special category of law. British usage involves no distinction between constitutional law and other laws because British courts recognize no such distinction' (1988: p. 340). .
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(3) The Established British Constitutional Doctrine: Basic propositions.
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For much of this century the British constitution has been depoliticised' in the sense that the existence of a broad consensus on the rules of the game' has meant that the constitution has not acted as a focus for social and political conflict and change. The apolitical constitution has provided a settled context within which a predominately High Tory' constitutional doctrine has flourished.
