This paper advances a functional analysis of the UK constitution. It explores how the UK constitution discharges three minimum ‘constituting’, ‘legitimating’ and ‘limiting’ functions that citizens living in modern liberal democracies may legitimately expect all constitutions – irrespective of form – to perform. This functional enquiry breaks with dominant trends in the legal scholarship that remain focused on theorising the constitution's underlying political or legal nature or, likewise, identifying its ultimate source of authority. In addition to offering a richer descriptive account of constitutional practice, this paper identifies, normatively, an institutional responsibility for Parliament to discharge the UK constitution's three minimum functions. Recognising that institutional responsibility unlocks fresh insights into two constitutional conundrums: the legitimacy of judicial review and the status of ‘constitutional statutes’. At the same time, it also exposes deficiencies and tensions in relation to the quality of Parliament's institutional performance on matters of minimum constitutional functioning.

本文对英国宪法进行了功能分析。它探讨了英国宪法如何履行生活在现代自由民主国家的公民可以合理地期望所有宪法——无论形式如何——履行的三个最低限度的“构成”、“合法化”和“限制”职能。这种功能性探究打破了法律学术中的主流趋势，这些趋势仍然专注于理论化宪法的潜在政治或法律性质，或者同样地，确定其最终权威来源。除了对宪法实践提供更丰富的描述性说明之外，本文还从规范上确定了议会履行英国宪法的三个最低职能的制度责任。认识到机构责任为两个宪法难题带来了新的见解：司法审查的合法性和“宪法法规”的地位。同时，它也暴露了议会在最低宪法运作问题上的制度绩效质量方面的缺陷和紧张局势。