Introduction to British constitutional law

It is often tempting to regard the British Constitution as fixed and static, and many authors in the field fail to resist this temptation. Yet the British Constitution at present is only the latest stage in the development of a continually evolving The settled concepts and practices of yesterday are seen, today, to have changed or disappeared. Similarly, the settled constitutional position today may well, by tomorrow, have ceased to be at all settled. Nothing is certain.

Professor Calvert has worked in the constitutional field for many years and has generated a considerable number of new ideas which he presents in this novel and challenging view of the British Constitution.

His book seeks, above all, to explain how the constitutional foundations came to be what they are, viewing them as creatures of history. Then, taking legislative, executive, and judicial functions of the state in turn, Professor Calvert seeks to explain what rules and restraints condition their discharge, and how those rules have evolved to their present state. The author then puts forward his own speculations about future developments. and how those rules have evolved to their present state.