Constitutional glossary

Plain definitions of the terms this argument turns on, each linked to a fuller page.

Parliamentary sovereignty

The rule that Parliament can make or unmake any law, and no court can strike down an Act. The heart of the old constitution. See parliamentary sovereignty.

Political constitution

A system where contested questions are settled by elected, accountable politics rather than courts. See the political constitution.

Legal constitution

A system where rights sit in law above ordinary politics and courts have the final say. See the legal constitution.

Judicial review

The process by which courts check whether a public body acted lawfully, not whether it was right. See judicial review.

Human Rights Act 1998

The law that brought the European Convention on Human Rights into British courts. See the Human Rights Act.

ECHR

The European Convention on Human Rights, a 1950 treaty enforced by the Strasbourg court, separate from the EU. See should the UK leave the ECHR.

Equality Act 2010

The law consolidating anti-discrimination rules, with nine protected characteristics and the Public Sector Equality Duty. See the Equality Act.

Quango

A quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation: an arm's-length body funded by government but run at a remove from ministers. See quangos.

Supreme Court

The UK's final court of appeal, created in 2009. It cannot strike down Acts of Parliament. See the Supreme Court.

Declaration of incompatibility

A court's formal statement, under section 4 of the Human Rights Act, that a law conflicts with Convention rights. It does not strike the law down; Parliament decides what to do.

Notwithstanding clause

A provision, as in Canada, letting the elected branch override certain rights for a fixed period. See how other countries do it.

Crowned republic

Starkey's term for Britain's old order: a monarchy tempered by the consent of the governed. See the English constitution.

Uncodified constitution

A constitution not written in a single document but spread across statutes, common law and conventions. See does the UK have a constitution.