Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly Volume 2 Article 5 Number 2 Spring 1975 1-1-1975 Self-Limitation by the United Kingdom Parliament O. Hood Phillips Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Recommended Citation O. Hood Phillips, Self-Limitation by the United Kingdom Parliament, 2 Hastings Const. L.Q. 443 (1975). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly/vol2/iss2/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Self-Limitation by the United Kingdom Parliament By 0. HOOD PHILLIPS, Q.C.* I Three Topical Issues While it would be an exaggeration to say that the British Constitu- tion does not exist at all, the fundamental principles of that Constitu- tion become more elusive the more one searches for them. The prob- lem to which this article is addressed is usually put in the form of the question: Can the United Kingdom Parliament bind itself or its suc- cessors for the future? It will be submitted that, if the inquiry is to have practical value, the concept of "sovereignty" should be avoided and the question should be discussed in relation to the concept of "self-lim- itation." Until recently students of law in Britain have been asked to discuss the doctrine of the "sovereignty" of Parliament in relation to the Union between England and Scotland (which has not been a signifi- cant practical issue in modem times, although it may become so if En- glish nationalism develops in reaction to Scottish and Welsh national- ism) and the Statute of Westminster 19311 (the repeal or disregard of which by Parliament has never been a practical issue).