A. V. Dicey in the context of LSE Law School

An uncodified constitution is a type of constitution where the fundamental rules often take the form of customs, usage, precedent and a variety of statutes and legal instruments. An explicit understanding of such a constitution can be developed through commentary by the judiciary, government committees or legal experts. In such a constitutional system, all these elements may be (or may not be) recognized by courts, legislators, and the bureaucracy as binding upon government and limiting its powers. Such a framework is sometimes imprecisely called an "unwritten constitution"; however, all the elements of an uncodified constitution are typically written down in a variety of official documents, though not codified in a single document. However, there may be truly "unwritten" constitutional conventions which while not usually legally enforceable may hold just as much sway as the letter of the law.

An uncodified constitution has the advantages of elasticity, adaptability, and resilience. A. V. Dicey described the uncodified constitution as "the most flexible polity in existence." A significant disadvantage, however, is that controversies may arise due to different understandings of the usages and customs that form the fundamental provisions of the constitution.

Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law.

Due process has also been frequently interpreted as limiting laws and legal proceedings (see substantive due process) so that judges, instead of legislators, may define and guarantee fundamental fairness, justice, and liberty. That interpretation has proven controversial. Analogous to the concepts of natural justice and procedural justice used in various other jurisdictions, the interpretation of due process is sometimes expressed as a command that the government must not be unfair to the people or abuse them physically or mentally. The term is not used in contemporary English law, but two similar concepts are natural justice, which generally applies only to decisions of administrative agencies and some types of private bodies like trade unions, and the British constitutional concept of the rule of law as articulated by A. V. Dicey and others. However, neither concept lines up perfectly with the American theory of due process, which, as explained below, presently contains many implied rights not found in either ancient or modern concepts of due process in England.

Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution is a book by A. V. Dicey about the constitution of the United Kingdom. It was first published in 1885.

Dicey was named the Vinerian Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford in 1883. He began delivering the lectures that were to become Introduction on 28 April 1884. In a letter to Macmillan on 9 June, he proposed that they be turned into a book. The book was published as Lectures Introductory to the Study of the Law of the Constitution in late 1885. Early reviews were generally favourable.