1. For the definitive statement on the concept of sovereignty, see H.L.A. Hart,The Concept of Law, Clarendon Press, 1961, ch. 4. For a commentary on Hart's application of sovereignty, see N. McCormick,HLA Hart, Edward Arnold, 1981, 118–20. for a recent discussion of the position of sovereignty in contemporary constitutional thinking in the U.K. see A. Bradley, “The Sovereignty of Parliament—in Perpetuity?”, in J. Jowell and D. Oliver, eds.,The Changing Constitution, Oxford University Press, 1994, 79–107.
2. See C. Munro,Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths, 1987, 79–81, for an awareness of the peculiar historical origins of parliamentary sovereignty. The only substantive appreciation of the historicity of the U.K. constitutional law is A. Carty, “English Constitution Law from a Postmodernist Perspective”, in P. Fitzpatrick, ed.,Dangerous Supplements: Resistance and Renewal in Jurisprudence, Pluto Press, 1991, 182–206.
3. See T. Hobbes,Leviathan, Penguin, 1985, part 2, and J. Locke,Two Treatises of Government, J.M. Dent, 1989, book 1 and book 2, chs. 11–14. For the transformation of the U.K. constitution in the seventeenth century, see J. Kenyon,The Stuart Constitution, Cambridge University Press, 1966. For a particular discussion of the roles of Hobbes and Locke, and their accommodation of sovereignty within a social contract framework, see M. Lessnoff,Social Contract, Macmillan, 1986, ch.4. For an appreciation of Hobbes as the central figure in British constitutional theory, see Carty,supra n.2 “English Constitution Law from a Postmodernist Perspective”, in P. Fitzpatrick, ed.,Dangerous Supplements: Resistance and Renewal in Jurisprudence, Pluto Press, 1991, at 185–93.
4. For a discussion of the altered constitutional ambition, see Kenyon,supra n. 3,The Stuart Constitution, Cambridge University Press, 1966. For a particular discussion of the roles of Hobbes and Locke, and their accommodation of sovereignty within a social contract framework and also G. Burgess,The Politics of the Ancient Constitution, Macmillan, 1992.
5. For the politics of the seventeenth century revolutions, see W. Speck,Reluctant Revolutionaries, Oxford University Press, 1988, particularly chs. 7–10.