The Law of the Constitution has been the main doctrinal influence upon English constitutional thought since the late-nineteenth century. It acquired and long retained extraordinary legal authority, despite fierce criticism and many changes in law and government. By many, it was treated as a canonical text embodying axiomatic principles, or it was simply understood as indeed the law of the constitution; and even by its critics, it was still granted the status of orthodoxy. Basic constitutional principles became commonly conceived in Diceyan terms: parliamentary sovereignty was pure and absolute in being without legal limit; and Dicey's rule of law precluded recognition of an English administrative law and thus retarded its development for decades. Reaffirmed in each new edition of Dicey's canonical text, the constitution itself seemed static.
The Oxford Edition of Dicey provides sources with which to reassess the extraordinary authority and lasting influence of Dicey's canonical text. This volume consists of Dicey's rare first edition in its original lecture form and of the main addenda in later editions. It facilitates a historical understanding of Dicey's original text in its context and of later changes when they were made. In introducing the first volume, J.W.F. Allison reassesses The Law of the Constitution's authority and the kinds of response it has elicited in view of its original educative form and educational context.
Although it was written in the late 19th century, there is still no better book to go to to learn about the distinctive features of the English legal system. Dicey was responsible for formulating for the first time the concept of "rule of law" and the idea of "parliamentary sovereignty" which understanding of the legal supremacy of parliament still holds today.
This is probably the first comparative study of constitutional law out there, from back in 1885, and it remains a classic. Through a focus on the English experience, Dicey explains why Parliamentary Sovereignty and the "rule of law," a term he coined, defined the English (he often used the word even for the British or UK) constitutional experience. He showed the Parliament was indeed the true legal "sovereign" of the nation, showing through things like the Septennial Act of 1716 (which extended the length of Parliament) and the Act of Union of 1800, where Parliament basically absolved itself and created a new version that included Ireland, that it could do anything. He also showed that the "Rule of Law" defined English practice because most of the "constitution" was the result of judicial cases decided between individuals, and English practice and law abjured abstract rights for more concrete "remedies." It was the practicality of English legalism that constituted its genius, Dicey shows, and he has much to demonstrate the success of this program over the more "rigid" and "abstract" French constitutionalism (although he is sympathetic to American and Swiss forms of federal constitutions.)
Much of the comparative stuff at the heart of this book is disputable and has often been disputed (especially concerning the perils of French "droit administratif"), and Dicey often wants to contrast the modern English with an 18th century French constitutionalism as opposed to the modern, post-1870 Third Republic one, but many of his general outlines have some credence. Dicey is a crystalline clear writer, so this reads easy, but his fondness for logical exactitude does occasionally lead to tedium and some tough slogs. On the whole, this will remain the starting point for studying the English constitution, and the many constitutions that emerged from it or still contrast with it.
من ترجمه فارسي اين كتاب به كوشش دكتر سيد ناصر سلطاني، نشر نگاه معاصر رو خوندم كتاب فارسي چون مقدمه كوتاهى داره ٢٢٠ صفحه ست حكومت به خوبى نظام حقوقي بريتانيا رو تشريح مي كنه و اگرچه حدودا دو قرن از عمرش مي گذره اما همچنان از منابع اصلي فهم حقوق اساسي بريتانياست كه البته مقايسه هاش با نظام حقوقي فرانسه و بلژيك مسير فهم رو هموارتر كرده. يكي ديگه از نكات مهم اين كتاب نوع تعريفي است كه از "حكومت قانون" ارائه مي كنه چرا كه به نظردايسي حكومت قانون فراتر از صرف قانون ه و اون رو به نوحي روح قانون مي دونه. خواندن اين كتاب به همراه "مباني حقوق عمومي" لاگلين بسيار راهگشاست