ABSTRACT
There has always been both change and continuity in the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom. Since the election of the Labour Government in May 1997, we have been living through a period of accelerated change, but this is not unprecedented in historical terms. It was during the seventeenth century – ‘the century of revolution’ in the words of Christopher Hill – that many of the basic principles, rules and conventions of our constitution were gradually established, notably the ending of the Divine Right of Kings and in its place the emergence of constitutional Monarchy and the principle of Parliamentary supremacy.1
