Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution

Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885) is A. V. Dicey's foundational treatise on English constitutional law, in which he gave the rule of law its classic modern legal formulation as three linked propositions: the absolute supremacy of ordinary law over arbitrary power, equality before the law for persons of every rank, and the derivation of constitutional rights from ordinary judicial decisions rather than from any single written constitutional guarantee. The book also introduced Dicey's influential account of parliamentary sovereignty and the conventions of the constitution.