Government Keywords Flashcards
Constitution:
A set of rules determining where sovereignty lies in a political system, and establishing the relationship between the government and the governed.
Unentrenched:
a constitution with no special procedure for amendment.
Uncodified:
a constitution not contained within a single document.
Unitary:
a political system where all legal sovereignty is contained in one place.
Parliamentary sovereignty:
the principle that Parliament can make, amend or unmake any law, and cannot bind its successor be bound by its predecessors.
Rule of law:
the principle that the law is of highest power; including all people and bodies including government.
Statute law:
anything law related passed by parliament.
Common law:
laws made by judges where the law does not cover the issue or is unclear.
Conventions:
traditions not by law but influential in the political system.
Authoratative works:
works written by experts describing how a political system is run; they are not legal binding but are significant.
Treaties:
formal agreements with other countries usually ratified by Parliament.
Devolution:
dispersal of power, not sovereignty, within a political system.
