ABSTRACT
The United Kingdom as one of the more established and settled countries of the world with its history as a sophisticated, first-world legal jurisdiction comprising both a strong economy and an established democratic apparatus, may appear to offer few parallels with the experience of Tibet and China. However, the real history of the United Kingdom is one of continual change and accommodation where some fundamentals relating to the very nature and extent of the polity have undergone considerable constitutional innovation. Although the United Kingdom is often presented as a paradigm example of a stable constitutional order, where constitutional verities such as democracy, the rule of law and, particularly, the sovereignty of parliament, endure, the reality is more complex. This is a continuing story and it is one which may have application beyond the very particular circumstances of the United Kingdom as developments here have required an often subtle and sometimes underestimated re-thinking of some of the basics of constitution order.
