PUBLIC LAW 2002/2003: COURSEWORK 1. Unlike the U.S.A. and Germany, the United Kingdom of Great Britain has no special legally sanctioned document, from which it derives the authority of the main organs of government, such as Parliament. However, it must be noted that the U.K. possesses a 'constitution' defined in the wider context. The vacuum left by an unwritten constitution is filled by the "twin foundations" of Parliamentary supremacy and the rule of law, "…the very keystone of the law of the constitution". Hence, whilst it is "…emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say...
the Privy Council, the impact of HRA 1998 and the European dimension.

In conclusion, the concept, in relation to both devolution and the HRA 1998, that 'the delegation of central government powers without the relinquishment of sovereignty' is to a degree correct. However, exercise of that sovereignty will be politically and legislatively constrained somewhat by the new centres of power within the U.K. and the incorporation into domestic law of fundamental freedoms. More change due to these two issues still remains a prospect for the future, i.e. a form of federalism with more government for the English regions.