The Constitution Flashcards
What is the British constitution made up of?
The U.K’s constitution is uncodified as it is an accumulation of various statutes, conventions, judicial decisions and treaties.
What does a constitution do?
Constitutions organise, distribute and regulate state power.
What is the Bill of rights of 1689?
Act of parliament that established parliamentary sovereignty
What is the Magna Carta of 1215?
Medieval charter that limited the power of the king
The parliament act of 1911?
Reduced the time the lords could block a bill for down to 2 years
What was the parliament act of 1949?
This act reduced the time the lords could block a bill for down to 1 year
What was the acts of union of 1707?
Acts of Parliament that united England and Scotland. It abolished the separated Scottish parliament and established the modern United Kingdom.
What are the 2 principles of the U.K constitution according to A.V Dicey?
Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law
What is parliamentary sovereignty?
Parliament is the highest authority.
Parl’ can’t bind its successor.
Parl’ can legislate on any subject.
What is the rule of law?
All are equal in the eyes of the law.
The judiciary is independent.
All are entitled to a fair trial (due process)
What is statute law?
Acts of Parliament that have direct constitutional significance.
Give 2 examples of statute law
The human rights act of 1998
The parliament act of 1949
What is common law?
Judge made law that has developed through historical usage and tradition and is treated as any rule of conduct.
Give 2 examples of common law
The definition of homicide.
The prerogative powers of the PM.
What is a convention?
An unwritten rule that is considered binding on all members of a political community.
Although they could be challenged due to their mass of moral force they are rarely disputed.
Give 2 example of a convention
The Salisbury convention- states that the HoL should not block and legislation that was in the current governments latest manifesto.
Collective responsibility- all members of government must support official policy in the public or resign or face dismissal. E.g- Ian Duncan Smith, robin cook.
Name 2 Authoritative works
A.V Dicey’s- ‘the Rule of Law’
Walter Bagehog- ‘the English constitution’- 1867
What is a treaty?
The body of EU law that the U.K must abide by.
Name some examples of treaties?
The factortame case, 1990
The Maastricht treaty, 1993- EU in its modern form.
The Lisbon Treaty, 2007- includes article 50
What is a federal constitution?
Divides sovereignty between a central body and regional, sub-central bodies- e.g The U.S.A
What is a unitary constitution?
Sovereignty lies in one single place and is the ultimate source of all political power- E.G the U.K
Name some constitutional reform from 1997-2010
House of Lords reform
Electoral reform
Devolution
What did the House of Lords reform do?
Significantly reduced the number of hereditary peers down to 92
Advantages of the House of Lords reform
The life peers are specialised.
Increased legitimacy of the House of Lords.
Denied the conservatives o their in-built majority
Possible disadvantages of the House of Lords reform?
The PM still has the power to appoint Lords, this could be based of party politics- e.g Blair & Cameron.
There are still 92 unelected hereditary peers- not as legitimate.
What did electoral reform do?
Forms of PR were introduced to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh assembly.
An advantage of electoral reform?
Increased representation for smaller parties so less votes would be wasted.
What are some possible disadvantages of the electoral reform?
Might not have a single party majority government winning.
Use a lot of different types of voting- no consistency.
What did the devolution do?
Devolved bodies were created for Scotland, Wales, & Northern Ireland.
What are the benefits of the devolution?
Brings together the conflicting unionist and nationalist factions in Northern Ireland.
Increase the levels of representation.
What are some possible disadvantages of the devolution?
Asymmetric devolution.
Scottish MP’s were able to vote on English matters but English MP’s have no influence over Scottish Parliament- also known as the ‘West Lothian Question’
What was the answer to the ‘West Lothian Question’?
English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) was introduced in 2015
Name some constitutional reform from 2010-15?
More devolution in England, Scotland and Wales.
The fixed term parliament act (2011)
Reform of the House of Commons.
What was the devolution reform in Scotland, England and Wales from 2010-15?
The Scotland Act 2012- able to borrow powers, right to set it’s own income tax rate and control over landfill tax and stamp duty.
The referendum in 2011 meant that Wales ware now able to make laws directly in all of the 20 policy areas that had been devolved to it.
England- EVEL
What did the Fixed Term Parliament act 2011 do?
A new parliament must be elected on a fixed date, at 5 year intervals.
Name an advantage and a disadvantage of the Fixed Term Parliament Act?
A: stops the PM from calling an election that they know will be advantageous for them.
D: doesn’t necessarily stop PM’s from holding early elections as they just need to get 2/3rd’s of MP’s votes. E.g- T.May 2017.
What was the reform of the House of Commons?
Allowed select committees to be chosen by MP’s, rather than have their selection be influenced by party leaders.
The back-bench business committee was created .
What are the 3 main criticisms of the uk constitution?
- uncertainty
- centralisation
- weak protection of rights
What is meant by ‘uncertainty’ of the UK constitution?
Lack of clarity especially in unwritten elements.
E.g common law or individual ministerial responsibility.
What is meant by ‘centralisation’ in the UK constitution?
Concentration of power at national level with few checks and balances.
What is meant by the ‘weak protection of rights’ in the .u.k’s constitution?
Uncodified constitution is neither entrenched nor authoritative . Parliamentary sovereignty means our rights are tenuously protected. E.g anti-terror legislation.
What is elective dictatorship?
Lord Hailsham coined the phrase that meant there I a constitutional imbalance and that the executive wields vast power so long as it dominates parliament.
Why can’t it easily be sad that the UK has a unitary or federal system of government?
U: we know have the devolved assemblies.
F: the powers were determined by parliament and can be taken away from them.
QUASI FEDERALISM
What is primary legislation?
Pass laws in particular policy areas determined by the UK parliament
What is primary legislation?
Pass laws in particular policy areas determined by the UK parliament
What is secondary legislation?
Laws made using specific powers given by a piece of primary legislation
What are some examples of devolved matters?
Education and training, health and social services, local government, home affairs, economic development.
What are some examples of reserved matters?
Defence, foreign policy, economic policy, constitutional reform and immigration.
What electoral system was introduced for the devolved Scottish Parliament?
Additional member system
What electoral system is used for the Northern Ireland assembly?
Single transferable vote
What is the European court if justice?
A court that hears appals based on the laws of the European Union.
what is dualism?
when a state has a codified constitution, there are significant differences between constitutional laws. the former are superior to the latter.
