The UK Constitution

Question 1

What are the names of all the sources of the uk constitution?

Answer 1

• Statute Laws
• Constitutional Conventions
• Authoritative Works
• Common Law
• Treaties
• Silent lions cautiously creep around while chasing lazy turtles.

Question 2

What are the main features of a statute law in the uk constitution?

Answer 2

• they are the highest legal authority
• as the uk constitution is uncodified these acts are in the same form as regular statutes that may not even be to do with the uk constitution. Whereas in other countries these statutes are clearly separated from normal ones.
• e.g - fixed term parliaments act 2011- replaced the prime ministers power to call an election at any time with the 5 year rule. Unless a vote of no confidence.

Question 3

What is a constitutional convention?

Answer 3

An unwritten rule that are rarely, if ever, disputed in parliament. E.g. the Salisbury convention where the House of Lords shouldn’t block any policy in the elected parties manifesto.
- another example of this is collective ministerial responsibility (however this has been periodically suspended due to the coalition and in 2016 with the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU)

Question 4

What are authoritative works?

Answer 4

• They are the written guidebooks explaining historical political principles that have become fully established over time but aren’t fully legislated.
• They are called authoritative works because they have authority while not being full laws; only works.
• Authoritative works are written by political thinkers and theorists such as:
  
  • A.V. Dicey ~rule of law~ where no one is above the law.
  • Blackstone ~parliamentary sovereignty~ where parliament is supreme over all other government institutions.
  • The ‘O’Donnell Rules’ of 2010 established how a coalition government is formed.

Question 5

What does ‘common law’ refer to?

Answer 5

-Common law refers to when the judiciary side of the government fills in gaps in fundamental rights and freedoms that the legislative side has missed.
-This is rarer now because of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights which had been added to up to 1998 (of which is the essence of the HRA) being an official piece of legislation.
-Common law is used by judges who declare and enforce it as if it were a real one.
- homicide is still a piece of common law

Question 6

How do treaties impact the uk constitution and give examples.

Answer 6

-Treaties which are international agreements between counties have become a major source of the constitution.
- The main one is the ‘European Convention on Human Rights’ which the British government signed and in 1956 thereby subjecting the UK to the European Court of Human Rights.
-other examples are the ‘Maastricht Treaty’ 1992 and the ‘Lisbon Treaty’ of 2009 which led to factions in John Majors Conservative Party such as the ‘Maastricht rebels’.
- the 2015 Paris climate agreement.