Constitution of the UK Flashcards
What did the Magna Carta 1215 establish?
First and fundamental constitutional document of the country, which sought to establish that the monarch was not above the law.
What did the Bill of Rights 1689 establish?
Affirmed the principles in the Magna Carta, limited royal power and is seen as establishing the concept of parliamentary sovereignty.
What is the monarch’s current role in the UK?
It is largely symbolic, as political power rests with the Executive (Government).
Remaining monarch powers include appointing the PM and Royal Assent.
What can a constitution be defined as?
That set of rules which directly or indirectly affect the distribution and exercise of sovereign power in the state.
What are the three key organisations of the UK?
Legislature (Parliament)-enacts new law and repeals or amends existing law. Consists of MPs in the Commons and Life Peers in the Lords.
Executive (Government)-formulates and implements policy. Consists of the PM and Cabinet, ministries and civil service.
Judiciary (Courts)-body of judges of all levels responsible for enforcement of criminal and civil law.
The UK has an uncodified constitution. What does this mean?
It means it does not have a constitution contained in a single document like the USA. Instead, it has a body of rules both written and unwritten which allocate and regulate functions of the state.
Where do constitutional rules come from?
Written sources-Acts of Parliament, constitutional Acts such as Magna Carta 1215, Bill of Rights 1689 and HRA 1998
Judicial precedent-creation of common law by judges.
Constitutional conventions-rules about the conduct of Government which fall short of being enforceable laws but are still agreed and respected e.g. King does not refusal Royal Assent
What is the main advantage and disadvantage of the UK’s uncodified constitution?
The advantage of the UK’s uncodified constitution is that it has the flexibility/capacity to change and evolve without recourse to any special legislative procedure to ‘amend’ a constitutional document or principle.
A disadvantage is that there can be a lack of certainty and formal security for constitutional rights. An entrenched constitution like in the USA provides certainty and greater constitutional stability e.g. right to bear arms.
Can the House of Lords block legislation approved by the House of Commons?
It may scrutinise and amend general legislation approved by the Commons but it cannot block legislation on public finances.
What three key changes did the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 establish?
-Reform of the office of Lord Chancellor, so that judicial functions have largely been taken over by the Lord Chief Justice
-Establishment of the Supreme Court as the highest appeal court in the land in 2009, ending the House of Lords judicial function (the old ‘law lords’)
-Creation of the Judicial Appointments Commission for the appointment of judges as prior to this the King had appointed judges based on advice from Lord Chancellor
What are constitutional conventions and what is their function?
Rules of constitutional practice that are regarded as binding in operation but not in law.
Conventions are a flexible way of filling in the gaps and developing constitutional rules informally without recourse to the law.
What is the Salisbury-Addison convention?
The Lords should not reject at second reading any Govt legislation passed by the Commons which carries out a manifesto commitment.
What is the Sewel Convention?
Parliament will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland, Wales or NI without consent of the devolved administration.
Should the House of Commons be consulted before the Government embarks on any major foreign policy initiatives?
Yes, this is a constitutional convention.
What is the convention of collective ministerial responsibility and what are the three key components?
Regulates how ministers should act collectively/as a whole. Three key components:
-Discussions between ministers, especially Cabinet, should remain confidential.
-Once a policy line has been reached, all ministers must stick to it and maintain unanimity. If they feel unable to, they should resign e.g. Robin Cook over Iraq War 2003.
-The purpose of the united front is so that Parliament has confidence in the Government, if it loses that a vote of no confidence can be reached.
