ABSTRACT
The notion of ‘parliamentary sovereignty’ or the ‘legislative supremacy of Parliament’, as it is sometimes termed, can be seen to have both political and legal aspects. If UK law conflicts with international law, or with a provision in a treaty to which the British Government is a signatory, the position seems clear. Now that the basic parameters of the traditional doctrine have been indicated, the substantive content of the doctrine may be considered more closely. If some conception of the nature and dimensions of the relevant political Union provides the framework for the operation of the doctrine, equally some conception of democracy must provide its substantive political content. Possible limitations could be based on two grounds: first, that the statute conflicted with laws derived from other legal systems; secondly, that it contravened fundamental liberties or other constitutional principles.
