Change, not continuity, attracts attention. Constitutional rules that remain unchanged and practices that continue become familiar, are readily taken for granted and easily pass unnoticed. Legislative constitutional changes, in comparison, are easily noticed, and their scope and frequency are ready causes of controversy.

The constitutional changes of recent decades have been frequent, far-reaching and ongoing. The European Communities Act 1972 provides for the domestic application of Community law, and the courts have accepted the implications of its primacy for statutes of the Westminster Parliament. Further domestic, legal and political responses to the continuing process of constitution-building in the European Union are to be expected. The government's constitutional modernisation programme since the Labour Party came to power in 1997 has resulted in devolution legislation, the Human Rights Act 1998, statutory provision for a Supreme Court and substantial modifications to the office of Lord Chancellor, inter alia. Legislative and other official initiatives, further, in response to the security fears following the attacks of 11 September 2001 and later atrocities have constitutional implications for the exercise and interpretation of human rights, the scope of which will become clearer in years to come.

The extent, form and frequency of the many changes have called into question the common and longstanding assumption that the constitution is characterised by gradual or evolutionary change and, further, that it remains unwritten.