The British Constitution Flashcards
What is a constitution?
A constitution outlines the rights, values and responsibilities of citizens and the state and the relationship between the two.
What type of constitution do the USA and France have?
A written constitution
What type of constitution does the UK have?
An unwritten constitution
Which 5 things is the UK constitution made up of?
● Statute - Acts of Parliament
● Common Law - judge made or case law
● Conventions – customs and traditions
● Treatises – Authoritative books on constitutional law (e.g. Parliamentary Practice by Erskine
May)
● Treaties – EU and other international agreements
What type of doctrine did the 1689 Bill of Rights establish and what does it mean?
Parliamentary sovereignty which means the monarch can only rule through Parliament. This fundamentally shifted the balance of power towards Parliament and away from the monarch.
What is an example of legislation that conflicts with the concept of Parliamentary Sovereignty?
Human Rights Act 1998 that incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British Law. There have been clashes between Parliament and the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR), most recently over the UK’s blanket ban on allowing prisoners to vote, which the ECHR has ruled contravenes the convention.
Which structure stops the state becoming too powerful
and to protect the rule of law from government interference?
The tripartite separation of powers – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
How is there sometimes overlap between the separate powers in the UK?
Members of the executive (government ministers) are
also members of the legislature, that is the House of Commons.
What does the executive consist of?
The Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and other government ministers. They are the government. Most of these are also MPs so also form part of the legislature.
What does the legislature consist of?
Members of the House of Commons (MPs) and the House of
Lords who make new laws.
What does the judiciary consist of?
The Supreme Court and other judges. (And magistrates, tribunal members, and coroners.)
