Wheare:
:arrow_right_hook: "The word constitution is commonly used in at least two senses in ordinary discussion of political affairs. First of all, it is used to describe the whole system of government, the collection of rules which establish and regulate it. These rules are partly legal and partly non-legal. When we speak of the British Constitution that is the normal, if not the only possible meaning the word has. Everywhere else it is used in the sense of legal rules embodied in one document."
Emphasized by Jennings:
:arrow_right_hook: "If a constitution means a written document, then obviously Great Britain has no Constitution. In countries where such a document exists, the word has that meaning. But the document itself merely sets out the rules determining the creation and operation of governmental institutions, and obviously, Great Britain has such institutions and such rules. The phrase "British Constitution" is used to describe those rules"
Ridley explains:
:arrow_right_hook: "Constitutions...have essential characteristics, none of them found in Britain" pg 28
These were explored by Paine (look to previous notes) "The sanctity, superirority, primacy and entrenched nature of a constitution" make it a constitution and therefore Ridley argyes that UK does not have a Constitution.
CASE: R(Miller) v Prime Minister, court noted
:arrow_right_hook: "Although, the UK does not have a single document entitled "The Constitution", it nevertheless possess a Constitution, established over the course of our history by common law, statues, conventions and practice. Since it has not been codified, it has developed pragmatically, and remains sufficiently flexible to be capable of further development."
Ridley's arguement of there being no "British Constitution", fails to recognise the wider role the constitution plays particularly in view of its political features.
Griffith:
:arrow_right_hook: "The Constitution of the UK lives on, changing from day to day; for the constitution is no more and no less than what happens. Everything that happens is constitutional. And if nothing happened that would be Constitutional also."