Constitutional functions and institutional responsibility: a functional analysis of the UK constitution

Horsley, Thomas ORCID: 0000-0002-0039-7875 (2022) Constitutional functions and institutional responsibility: a functional analysis of the UK constitution. LEGAL STUDIES, 42 (1). pp. 99-119.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/lst.2021.32

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This paper advances a functional analysis of the UK constitution. It explores how the UK constitution discharges three minimum ‘constituting’, ‘legitimating’ and ‘limiting’ functions that citizens living in modern liberal democracies may legitimately expect all constitutions – irrespective of form – to perform. This functional enquiry breaks with dominant trends in the legal scholarship that remain focused on theorising the constitution's underlying political or legal nature or, likewise, identifying its ultimate source of authority. In addition to offering a richer descriptive account of constitutional practice, this paper identifies, normatively, an institutional responsibility for Parliament to discharge the UK constitution's three minimum functions. Recognising that institutional responsibility unlocks fresh insights into two constitutional conundrums: the legitimacy of judicial review and the status of ‘constitutional statutes’. At the same time, it also exposes deficiencies and tensions in relation to the quality of Parliament's institutional performance on matters of minimum constitutional functioning.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	constitutional functions, UK constitution, institutional responsibility, parliamentary sovereignty, rule of law, judicial review
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	10 May 2021 09:59
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 22:49
DOI:	10.1017/lst.2021.32
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2021.32
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3121748