principles of the uk constitution

Question 1

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Answer 1

Rooted in common law:

• Parliamnet can make or unmake any UK law
• Only parliament can make UK law
• No parliament can bind its successors

Question 2

parliamentary government under a constitutional monarch

Answer 2

• Operates on the basis of a mandate (an official order or to do something) granted periodically through free and fair elections.
• Bicameral (the legislature is divided into two functions) parliament operates alongside a constitutional monarch
• However, the monarch largely symbolic, although is still does retain many powers
• Referred to as a ‘dignified’ part of the constitution by Walter Bagehot.

Question 3

The rule of law

Answer 3

AV Dicey (1885): the rule of law has three main strands:

• No one can be punished without trial
• No one is above the law; all are subject to the same justice
• General principles of the constitution (personal freedoms) result from the decisions of judges (case law or common law) rather then from parliamentary statute or executive order.

Question 4

the unitary state

Answer 4

• Britain is said to be a unitary state rather than a federal one
• this means that the ultimate power in the UK is held by the central government at Westminster
• Any power that a regional or local government may appear to have is delegated…this power can be withdrawn at any time.