The Constitution And General Appatutus Of The System

Question 1

Whatever the 5 elements of the U.K constitution?

Answer 1

. Authoritative texts
. Common law
. Statute law
. Conventions
. Treaties

Question 2

What is the act of settlement? And what year was it?

Answer 2

1701,
Established the precident that only protestants and not Roman Catholics could be the monarch.
Direct hereditary succession was more important than religious affiliation.

Question 3

What is the European committees act?
And what year was it?

Answer 3

1972,
Britain entered the European economic community which brought a ‘double lock’ of protections such as that of the European convention on human rights.
This waned the power of Parliamentary sovereignty to pass any law it deems fit.

It created open borders for E.U citizens

Question 4

What is the freedom of information act, what year was it?

Answer 4

2000,
Makes government more transparent by making it unlawful to withhold any government documents outside of national security ones, for more than 20 days.
Anyone can invoke this law.

This was one of two laws which New Labour put through to cede the sovereignty of Parliament to the E.U, the other being the Human rights act of 1998

Question 5

The fixed term parliament acts is what, passed when?

Answer 5

2011,
- PM could no longer call a snap election and now needs a 2/3 majority in the HOC to do it
(This was reversed by Johnson in 2021, returning this power to the PM)

Question 6

What is the Scottland act? When did it happen?

Answer 6

1998,
Created the Holirood assembly in Scotland, the devolved body of government strengthening the country’s autonomy in the U.K

Question 7

In 2005 the what act was passed? What did it do?

Answer 7

The constitutional reform act.
It separated the supreme Court from the HOL.
It also established the judicial appointments commission; no longer could only the Lord chancellor and PM decide judicaries, there are strict requirements.

Question 8

Im what ways might the U.K constitution protect individual rights?

Answer 8

• Conventions and expectation from our democracy.
• The supreme courts interpretation of statute law into common law. The court also address particular cases as the highest court in the land which can mean defending the rights of individuals that have been or will be infringed.
• The allowing of pressure groups and unions under freedom of speech.
• Parliamentary privileges of MPs allowing them to more diligently and unafraidedly defend their electorate.
• the right to vote means people can vote for people who will not infringe on their rights.

The European court on human rights is a ‘double lock’ on our existing bill of rights (1868).