THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 19

any member to jnsult another in the course of debate; this will
be an ordinary rule, and members will expect the Chairman to
see that it is obeyed. Another rule will state how often, and by
whom, the Chairman shall be elected, and this will be a con-
stitutional rule.

Constitutions are not always made up entirely of laws. It is
part of the British Constitution that a Government of which
the House of Commons strongly disapproves, shall resign; this,
however, is only custom, not law. The British Constitution, then,
is the set of laws and customs which determine how the Govern-
ment of Britain shall be chosen and changed, what persons shall
carry out the various duties of Government, and what their
powers shall be.

SOVEREIGNTY OF PARLIAMENT.

The first fact about the British Constitution is that Parliament
is sovereign. The traveller returning from abroad must allow
Customs officials to search his luggage, because an Act of Parlia-
ment gives them power to do so. The judge who sends a burglar
to penal servitude must bear in mind the Act of Parliament
fixing the maximum sentence for that crime; if the judge were
to take bribes, he could only be removed from his office in the
way laid down by another Act. Some of the law which judges
administer is, indeed, older than Parliament; but this "common
law" exists only as long as Parliament pleases, and is constantly
being changed by Acts of Parliament, or, to give them their
other name, Statutes.

But when it is said that Parliament is sovereign it is necessary
to understand what the word "Parliament" means. People often

^say "Parliament" when they mean the House of Commons, or
perhaps the Lords and Commons. Legally, however,. Parliament
means the King, Lords and Commons acting together, and to be
exact, the Sovereign is "the King in Parliament". For this

, reason Acts of Parliament begin with the phrase "Be it enacted,
by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice