Chapter 5.1 - Nature of the UK Constitution

Question 1

What Act confirmed the primacy of Parliament over the crown?

Answer 1

Act of Settlement 1701

Question 2

What Act brought the UK into the European Union?

Answer 2

European Communities Act 1972

Question 3

How is the British constitution different to the US and French constitutions?

Answer 3

It has evolved gradually rather than a revolutionary event which led to the complete overthrow of the previous government

Question 4

What type of monarchy is the British monarchy?

Answer 4

A constitutional monarchy

Question 5

What are 2 features of the UK Constitution that are not present in the US Constitution?

Answer 5

The UK Constitution in uncodified and unentrenched

Question 6

Why are British citizens not protected by higher law?

Answer 6

Parliamentary sovereignty

Question 7

What 2 things protect British civil liberties?

Answer 7

• Principle that government should act according to the rule of law
• Independence of the judiciary from the government

Question 8

What does being a unitary state mean?

Answer 8

Power is centralised and the central government possesses absolute authority

Question 9

THE SOURCES OF THE UK CONSTITUTION

Answer 9

THE SOURCES OF THE UK CONSTITUTION

Question 10

What are the 6 sources of the UK Constitution?

Answer 10

• Statute law
• Common law
• Treaties
• Landmark decisions
• Authoritative works
• Conventions

Question 11

What is statute law?

Answer 11

An Act of Parliament

Question 12

What is common law?

Answer 12

Judicial interpretation of the law

Question 13

What 1772 judicial case set an important precedent that the court must always dispense justice whatever the consequences?

Answer 13

Somerset v Stewart

Question 14

What is the Salisbury convention?

Answer 14

The House of Lords does not oppose the second or third reading of legislation that was in the winning party’s manifesto

Question 15

When does the Salisbury Convention date back to?

Answer 15

The Labour government of 1945-51

Question 16

Who resigned their peerage in 1963 to enter the Commons via a by-election?

Answer 16

Alec Douglas-Home

Question 17

What convention was established in 2003?

Answer 17

Blair allowed the Commons to vote on military action in Iraq - Parliament should be consulted over large-scale commitments of British forces

Question 18

What treaty was accepted as part of the signing of the European Communities Act 1972?

Answer 18

The Treaty of Accession

Question 19

What did the Treaty of Accession do?

Answer 19

It made the UK a signatory to the Treaty of Rome (1957) and meant that the UK accepted all existing European Community law

Question 20

What are 3 treaties the UK has signed as part of the EU?

Answer 20

• Single European Act
• Maastricht Treaty
• Lisbon Treaty

Question 21

In what judicial case did the Law Lords declare that EU law takes precedence over domestic law?

Answer 21

Factortame case 1991