act in a manner which was without precedent" while John Laws had argued that "ultimate sovereignty rests ... not with those who wield governmental power, but in the conditions under which they are permitted to do so. The constitution, not the Parliament, is in this sense sovereign". However, Jackson contained the first express support from judges acting in their official capacity for the proposition that courts might have the authority to strike down an Act of Parliament if it violated fundamental constitutional principles (albeit obiter). This was a significant challenge to the orthodox view of parliamentary sovereignty, expressed by Albert Venn Dicey, that Parliament can make and unmake law on any topic and that no body can make a higher form of law than Parliament or set aside primary legislation. Lord Steyn, If that is so, it is not unthinkable that circumstances could arise where the courts may have to qualify a principle established on a different hypothesis of constitutionalism. In exceptional circumstances involving an attempt to abolish judicial review or the ordinary role of the courts, the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords or a new Supreme Court may have to consider whether this is a constitutional fundamental which even a sovereign Parliament acting at the behest of a complaisant House of Commons cannot abolish. However, Graham suggests that Lord Steyn's comments were limited to the use of the Parliament Acts and would not apply to legislation enacted using the ordinary legislative procedure. He also argues that it would be difficult to explain how courts would refuse to apply legislation unless human rights were involved, citing the example of the removal of judicial review: using fundamental common law principles to interpret legislation is very different from striking down legislation supported by the elected House of Commons, and would be even more contentious if the legislation only substantially modified judicial review procedure. Lord Hope followed on from Lord Steyn. Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute ... It is no longer right to say that its freedom to legislate admits of no qualification whatever. Step by step, gradually but surely, the English principle of the absolute legislative sovereignty of Parliament ... is being qualified ... The rule of law enforced by the courts is the ultimate controlling factor on which our constitution is based. The fact that your Lordships have been willing to hear this appeal