Thoburn v Sunderland City Council also known as the Metric Martyrs case is an English constitutional law case. It suggests that there exists a hierarchy of Acts of Parliament, whereby those Acts affecting "the legal relationship between citizen and State" or "fundamental constitutional rights" form a special and superior category known as "constitutional statutes" that can only be expressly repealed or abrogated by Parliament and are therefore immune from the doctrine of implied repeal. Included within this category is the European Communities Act 1972. Strictly speaking, this point was not essential to the decision, and so can be classified as obiter dicta, but the point has not thus far been disavowed by other English Judges, or, on the other hand, given much amplification in subsequent cases.
Read more about Thoburn V Sunderland City Council: Legislative Background, Case, Arguments, Judgment, Laws' Four Propositions, Appeals
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