The British sense of reserve has much to commend it, but itwould be difficult to codify in a constitution

The separation of powers is a fundamental feature of many written constitutions, but few of them incorporate the supportive principle of institutional self-restraint. In this post, Dr Aileen Kavanagh discusses how the British sense of reserve might inform such a principle and considers the implications of including this value in a proposed UK written constitution. While reserve might be a desirable quality, however, she concludes that codifying it would be problematic.