ABSTRACT
Under a written constitution the highest source of power is the constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court. Social contract theory underpins the political sovereignty of the people. In the United Kingdom, in the absence of a written constitution which asserts the sovereignty of the people and the sovereignty of the constitution, as interpreted by the judiciary, over the legislature and executive, the vacuum is filled by the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, or supremacy. The classical definition of sovereignty, offered from a constitutional law rather than a jurisprudential perspective, is that of AV Dicey. Dicey insisted that it was essential to separate the political from the legal and to recognise that, as matters stand, legal sovereignty remains with the United Kingdom Parliament, although there may be political restraints which effectively inhibit the exercise of those powers. Treaties entered into under the royal prerogative cannot alter the law of the land.
