Constitutional Flexibility

Question 1

4 sources of UK consitution?

Answer 1

1. Statute.
2. Case law.
3. Conventions.
4. Royal Prerogative.

Question 2

Procedure to change Constitution in the US?

Answer 2

2/3 Congress, 3/4 federal states.

Question 3

Definition of statute/Acts of Parliament?

Answer 3

Written legal rules enacted by Parliament.

Question 4

Examples of Acts of Parliament which have enshrined fundamental tenets of the UK consitution?

Answer 4

Magna Carta 1215.
Bill of Rights 1689.
European Communities Act 1972.

Question 5

2 examples of the fact that passing legislation in the UK may be a laborious and drawn-out process, despite being legally easy.

Answer 5

Human Rights Act 1998; House of Lords reform.

Question 6

3 examples of statutes which may be difficult to repeal due to socio-political factors.

Answer 6

1. European Communities Act 1972.
2. Human Rights Act 1998.
3. Scotland Act 1998.

Question 7

Definition of case law?

Answer 7

Decisions of the judiciary. Judges exercise discretion in interpretation and application of Acts of Parliament and, by doctrine of precedence, create precedents.

Question 8

Examples of important principles derived from case law.

Answer 8

1. Supremacy of Parliament.
2. Residual freedom.
3. Habeas corpus (applied in Belmarsh case - cf Anti-T, Crime and Sec Act 2001).
4. That legal disputes should be resolved by judiciary - Case of Prohibitions
5. Judicial review.

Question 9

3 examples of limitations on case law.

Answer 9

1. Parliamentary supremacy.
2. Parliament can overrule by legislating, cf. Burmah Oil/War Damages Act 1965.
3. Doctrine of precedent.

Question 10

Definition of constitutional conventions?

Answer 10

Non-legal, unwritten understandings which ‘fill in the gaps’ and allow the constitution to function in practice.

Question 11

Give 3 examples of important conventions.

Answer 11

1. Queen always gives Royal Assent.
2. Collective Cabinet/Individual Ministerial responsibility.
3. Judiciary plays no active role in politics.

Question 12

2 cases which show flexibility of conventions.

Answer 12

1. A-G v Cape/Diaries of a Cabinet Minister.

2. Madzimabuto/Southern Rhodesia Act 1965.

Question 13

Example of socio-political restraint on altering conventions.

Answer 13

Refusal by monarch to give Royal Assent or act on government’s advice would not be appropriate in democratic, modern nation.

Question 14

Definition of Royal Prerogative?

Answer 14

Non-legal powers, traditionally exercised by the monarch, which have not yet been removed by statute, and are exercised by the monarch, or by the government.

Question 15

Dicey definition of prerogative powers?

Answer 15

“The residue of discretionary or arbitrary authority which at any time is legally left in the hands of the Queen”.

Question 16

Give 3 examples of prerogative powers.

Answer 16

1. Declaring war.
2. Signing treaties.
3. Appointing and dismissing government Ministers.

Question 17

2 examples of limitations on prerogative powers.

Answer 17

1. Most exercised by government, so convention of Collective Cabinet responsibility holds them accountable.
2. Stripped by Act of Parliament, e.g. Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.