Home / The English constitution / Constitutional timeline
Reference
Six centuries of build-up, then a rapid rewiring. The whole story on one scroll, each step linked to its fuller page.
This is the spine of the argument on one page. The first block is conservation over centuries. The second is a fast, deliberate change after 1997. Whether each step was really conservation or progress is contested, and the fuller history is on the English constitution.
1215 & 1225
Magna Carta. The 1225 reissue to everyone sets the pattern: money for the Crown in return for the redress of grievances.
1688–1689
The Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights. Parliament ends the drive to absolute rule and fixes the balance between Crown, Parliament and courts.
1885
Dicey names the rule. Parliamentary sovereignty written down at last: Parliament supreme, no court above it.
1998
The Human Rights Act and devolution. The Human Rights Act brings the European Convention into domestic courts. Power also moves outward to devolved bodies.
2005 & 2009
A Supreme Court. The Constitutional Reform Act creates the Supreme Court, which opens in 2009, ending the Law Lords.
2010
The Equality Act. The Equality Act and its Public Sector Equality Duty add a new layer of legal obligation across the public realm.
2019–2024
The courts at the frontier. The Miller cases, the net zero target set by order, and the collapse of the Rwanda scheme test where power now lies. See Rwanda.
2025
The argument goes mainstream. Leaving the ECHR and repealing the Human Rights Act become Conservative and Reform policy. See should the UK leave the ECHR.
