PO210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Parliamentary Sovereignty, Constitutionalism, Statutory Interpretation
Document Summary
Refers only to that set of norms that defines government authority. In this minimal sense, all states are defined by constitutional states -- even those ruled by the absolute sovereign (the constitution would simply contain one norm: that the sovereign enjoy unlimited authority to rule as they wish) The idea that the authority and/or legitimacy of government depends on observing established limits to it"s power (i. e. limits to the scope of it"s authority; mechanisms that must be used to exercise relevant power, etc) Jl austin believed that the claim that authority could be limited was incoherent. If laws are fundamentally commands, then whoever makes the law must themselves not be subject to its commands. Sovereignty is the possession of supreme authority over some domain, government are the persons or bodies through which sovereignty is exercised. Those whose powers are constitutionally limited face certain obstacles if they wish to change or expunge on the limits it imposes on them.
