UK constitution Flashcards
What 4 things define the UKs constitution
Uncodified
Unitary - centralised power
Rule of Law
Parliamentary Sovereignty
Significance of the uncodified constitution
More difficult for civilians to understand their rights and the system
Makes it easier to adapt to new acts of parliament - not hard to amend
Significance of UK having a unitary government
Westminster is sovereign and powerful - permits parliamentary sovereignty
Significance of Rule of Law
Ensures governmental powers are limited
Government can be held accountable
Ensures all members of society are subject to the law
Significance of Parliamentary Sovereignty
Shows WHY UK is uncodified - parliament have to only change a law to change the constitution
Ensures flexibility
What are the 6 sources of the constitution
Statute Law
Common Law
Royal Prerogative
Conventions
Authoritative Opinions
International Treaties
What is Statute Law, significance and examples
Acts of Parliament that alter the constitution
Ensures Parliamentary Sovereignty, civilians rights can improve, maintains flexibility
EG:
Changes to voting: Great Reform Act 1832, Ballot Act 1872
Changes to rights: HRA 1998
What is Common Law, significance and examples
Laws passed down by legal judgements
Gives consistency in judicial rulings, statute law can modify common law
EG: Freedom of expression, Criminality of Murder
What is Royal Prerogative, significance and examples
Political powers of the monarch - now PM
Can be limited by statute law - 2011 fixed term Act
EG: Powers of patronage
What are Conventions, significance and examples
Unwritten traditions to establish parliamentary procedures
Not protected by anything other than tradition
Can result in crisis if broken - Lords rejection of Peoples Budget 1909
EG: Salisbury Convention - Lords agree not to delay policies in manifestos
What are Authoritative Works, significance and examples
Writings and books of constitutional experts that clarify the constitution’s workings
Have no absolute legal authority
Not approved by parliament and can be changed easily
EG:
2010 Cabinet Manual
Bagehot’s: the English constitution
Erskine May parliamentary procedure book used to prevent May’s Withdrawal Bill
List three constitutional reforms that modernised institutions and what they are since 1997
1999 House of Lords Act - removed all but 92 hereditary peers and allowed life peers
2005 Constitutional Reform Act - created the Supreme Court, replacing Law Lords
2014 House of Lords Reform Act - peers able to resign
List three constitutional reforms that focused on devolution
1997 Referendums in Scotland and Wales
1998 Devolved Assemblies act
Good Friday Agreement
List three constitutional reforms that focus on rights and what they are since 1997
1998 Human Rights Act - incorporated ECHR into UK law
2000 Freedom of Information Act - access to information held on public bodies
2010 Equalities Act - end discrimination on gender, race etc.
2018 Data Protection Act - protection of personal data
Give three examples and explain on how the constitution provides weak rights protection
Conservatives proposed British Bill of Rights - would have pulled UK out of the ECHR
Rights are not entrenched
- Parliamentary sovereignty means ineffective checks and balances on rights
- 1998 HRA can be repealed
Rights passed in devolved assemblies can be repealed
- Gender recognition bill Scotland
Give three examples and explain on how the constitution provides strong rights protection
Pressure Groups work for rights
- Howard league and campaigned for prisoners rights
UK involvement in international treaties
- International Covenant on civil rights
- 2012 report found that with 15,000 applications on the EHCR, only a breach of 1% of cases
Judicial Reviews enhance rights
- November 2013 Court of Appeal helped disabled people by abolishing Independent Living Allowance
What are individual rights and give an example
Rights that only apply to individual citizens EG: Freedom of Expression
What are collective rights and give an example
Rights that protect a whole group of individuals
EG: Abolishing Independent Living Allowance for disabled people
Give three ways that individual rights and collective rights clash
Individual rights of privacy clash with collective right of security when monitoring crimes for example
Individual rights to free speech and opinion class with collective rights of no hate speech towards minorities
Individual right of whether not to be vaccinated in COVID clashes with collective rights of protecting those vulnerable
