This article argues that parliamentary sovereignty’s assimilation of constituent power—the ultimate power in a legal order to create and posit a constitution—has stultified the development of British constitutional law. The result is a deeply ideological, as distinct from oft-heralded pragmatic, constitutional structure that is incapable of confronting the systemic challenges the United Kingdom currently faces. By conceptualizing a more antagonistic relation between the Crown in Parliament and “the people” by questioning the democratic credentials of the former, this article contends that the UK constitutional order can be reinvigorated. This reappraisal, however, also requires the interrogation of the notion of “the people” in the UK constitutional order itself. Thus, despite what appear to be substantial constitutional reforms in recent decades, parliamentary sovereignty’s inviolability is stultifying deeper constitutional reform. The result is a constitutional law in “crisis” in search of a paradigmatic revolution. A descriptive—as distinct from normative—account of constituent power is then introduced paving the way for a distinction to be drawn between the possessor of constituent power in a constitutional order and “the people.” Constituent power in the context of the UK is then discussed, arguing that parliamentary sovereignty incorporates much of what the idea of constituent power does. However, this does not mean that constituent power is vested in “the people”; rather, the locus of constituent power in the United Kingdom should be more forcefully critiqued from a democratic perspective. By acknowledging this distinction, the sacrosanctity of parliamentary sovereignty can be broached and more effective constitutional reform can follow by embracing this tension between Parliament and “the people.”

中文翻译：

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英国的议会主权和组成权力的所在地

本文认为，议会主权对组成国权力的同化（建立和确立宪法的法律秩序中的终极权力），已经阻碍了英国宪法的发展。其结果是产生了深刻的意识形态，不同于经常宣布的务实的宪法结构，这种结构无法应对联合王国目前面临的系统性挑战。通过质疑前者在英国的民主资格，将议会中的王室与“人民”之间的敌对关系概念化，这篇文章认为英国的宪政秩序可以重新焕发活力。但是，这种重新评估还需要对英国宪法秩序本身中的“人民”概念进行审问。因此，尽管最近几十年来似乎进行了重大的宪法改革，议会主权的不可侵犯性正在深化宪法改革。结果是寻求“范式革命”的“危机”中的宪法。然后引入了描述性的与规范性的区别的组成权力帐户，为在宪法秩序中的组成权力的拥有者和“人民”之间进行区分铺平了道路。然后讨论了英国背景下的制宪权，认为议会主权包含了制宪权理念的大部分内容。但是，这并不意味着组成人民权力归属于“人民”；相反，应该从民主的角度更加有力地批评联合王国的组成权力所在地。通过承认这种区别，