Furthermore, in the United States, we have enshrined local governments' powers through a federal system that disperses power geographically as well as functionally. Far more common, in history and in the present, is a unitary approach that puts political sovereignty in the hands of one institution. In most places, at most times, that institution has been some form of monarchy. In more recent times, it has been universally a legislature. There are a few more than five now, but not many more.
Parliament is sovereign.
We live life forwards and you will never understand much about Parliament if you resolutely stand here in the waning years of the 2d millennium A.D. and see Parliamentary Sovereignty as the major issue of Britain's history. Try to see Parliament and its development from the perspective of the actors involved, whether that perspective be in the 13 th or 15 th or 17 th centuries. It appears that few gave much thought to Parliamentary Sovereignty until the late 16 th century. Ask yourself some questions about the development of Parliament. Keep in mind that your text books provide answers to these questions that are sometimes tentative, sometimes slightly contradictory, and that sometimes vary from century to century or reign to reign.