Sources of the constitution - UK Constitution Flashcards
Statute Law (Examples)
Great Reform Act (1832) - Extended the franchise
Parliament Acts (1911 & 1949) - Made the House of Commons more powerful than the House of Lords
European Communities Act (1972) - The UK joined the EEC (now the EU)
Scotland Act (1998) - Granted devolution to Scotland
Human Rights Act (1998) - Enshrined basic rights into UK law
House of Lords Act (1999) - Removed almost all hereditary peers from the House of Lords
Constitutional Reform Act (2005) - Created the UK Supreme Court
Fixed Term Parliament Act (2011) - Attempted to fix the parliamentary term
Common law (Definition)
- Law declared by judges
- Based on custom and precedent
- Lower courts are expected to follow the precedent of more senior courts, a process known by the latin phrase stare decisis, but neither the lower courts nor the more senior courts of record can create new law
- Applies equally across the whole country
- All common law is inferior to statute law, which means it can be amended, superseded, or repealed by Act of Parliament - underlining the significance in law of parliamentary sovereignty.
Statute Law (Definition)
- created by Parliament through Acts of Parliament
- Bill has to be approved by the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and signed by the Monarch, then implemented by the executive and enforced by the courts.
- Most statute law is not constitutionally significant e.g. The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 didn’t really alter the way politics works in the UK
Common Law (Examples)
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Common assault
Conventions (Definition)
- Long usage gives conventions their authority
- Neither codified nor enforced by courts of law
- Enforced only by political pressure
- Each constitutional convention stands alone
- Conventions can become laws should Parliament choose to ‘crystallise’ them
Conventions (Examples)
- Monarch appoint prime minister the leader of the largest party in Westminster - Clearly understood
- Individual ministerial responsibility or collective ministerial responsibility - Up for interpretation
- Royal Prerogative powers - powers which belong to the monarch but are actually exercised by the prime minister e.g. the power to hire or fire government ministers.
- Assumption that a government will resign if it loses a vote of confidence in the Commons - 2011 Fixed Term Parliament Act
- Salisbury Convention - Lords won’t oppose legislation that is in a party’s manifesto
Authoritative works (Definition)
- No formal legal authority
- Helpful in interpreting areas of constitutional practice and act as a guide to the workings of institutions
Authoritative Works (Examples)
- Erskine May’s ‘Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament (1844)’ - provides a detailed guide to rules and precedents
- A V Dicey’s ‘An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1884)’ - described a system of responsible cabinet government in a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy, where Parliament was legally sovereign and the people politically sovereign.
Treaties (Definition)
- Formal agreements with other countries, usually ratified by Parliament.
Treaties (Examples)
- Treaty of Rome (1957): primary aim = create an European Economic Community (EEC) in order to create an area where goods, people, capital, etc., could circulate freely regardless of national boundaries
- Treaty of Maastricht (1991): established the EU, creation of a single currency: the euro, increased European Parliament’s powers
- Treaty of Lisbon (2009): established creation of a permanent European Council president, allowed for legislative proposals to be established with 55% of member state support, established the Charter of Fundamental Rights, containing rights to education and healthcare
- 1 January 1973 the UK became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), now known as the European Union (EU)- treaties establishing the EU became part of the UK constitution, superseded by the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018
