UK CONSTITUTION TOPIC Flashcards
what is a constitution
a constitition is speifically desinged to set up the rules and laws around a country r body of governemnt must be ran and organised. It often dicates what specific laws can be passed.
what is a statute law
a statute law is a law passed by uk parliament and the most important part of a constittion
What does entrenched mean
how certain laws that are in corrsopondednce with a constitution or higher law are more difficult to reverse or change
what is royal perogative
a historic feature of uk traditions that means that the crown has special powers to make and sign off laws and make things such as sending uk troops to war without a parliamentary majority
what is a codified constitution
a codified constitution is a constitution that outlines the signsificant and different roles nd branched of governemnt and acts as a higher law, it is exresssed into a single document such as the 7000 word us constitution
what is an uncodified constitution
an uncodified constittion is a usuaully non judicible constittion that technically doesnt exist as just one document of higher law. It is collected and compiled to over an extrnded period of time as aposed to a codifed constitution that is written usualy in one given time aftyer a revolution or independance movement.
explain the differenc ebeetween entrenchment and being unentrenched
entrenchment is a feature of a codified constitution meaning that the constitution is implied to be higher law and special procedures are actually required to change it for example in the US an ammendment to the constition must come at the hands of 2/3 majority in senate and HOR and 3/4 of all states must vote to ratify the ammendment.
uncodified constitions feture laws and legal systems that are unentrenched, this means that any ;law can be altrerdd by a sovergn act of parliament.
Explain an exampleof lack of entrencment in the uk
2011 fixed term parliaments act was inroduced by the coolition govt and ststed that general elections must be held at a fixed point after a five year period. 2022 bojo reversed this showing a lack of entrencmnet in laws
explain judiciable vs non judiciable
a codified consitittion festurees a two tier legal stystem where entrenched constitutional arranments become higher law as higher law a codified contittion is judicible meaning it becomes the role of the highhest court in the nation to decide what is an isnt constitutional
what is the most impprotant consequence of the uks uncodified constitition
is that parilaiment is sovern and the constitution effectively becomes whatver parliament says it is at a given point in time
what are key differences beetween the nature of uk and us constittions
uk has parliamentary sovergnty, us has a sovergn constitution
single tier legal system for uk , two teir for us
no government can bind successer in uk, us constitutional ammendmnents are binding unless a reversal is ratified[hard to do]
what is soverghnty
sovergnty referes to ultimate powe and ht esourc eo f all politcal power , in a codiefed constitutionthe contsitiini itself is sovergn and not the govt but in hte uk parliament is the legally sovern body and not parliament , we have a syatwm of parliamentary sovergnty
what are unitary and federal consuttions
in a unitery consituton msovergnty or ultimat epower is redised in on elocaton at the centre whillst some power may be devolved to other regons it al,most ultummetly lies in one place
federal consitition is where power is divided upon into multiple sectors , the uk is described as quasi federal as in practivce its sya over svtoland and england is largely limited
what three key principles does parliamentary sovergnty and what are the twin pillars of the uk demorcacy
parlamentary sovernty and the rule of law, parilament can make law on any matter it choses, parliament cant be struck down by tht e suprrme court , no parliament can bind its successors down
what is rule of law
this is whwere supposedly the main rights of cigtesens are protected in that everyone is entitled to a fair trial and due legal process and that all citizens must obey the lae and are equal under it public officials are not above thw law and the judiiary must be independent of politics
what are the four sources of the uk constitution
statture law ; law made by parliament such as ftpa 2011, constittional reform act 2005 statute laws outrank all other as p is sovergn
common law is law develope by judicial preceedeings.
conventions; customs or tradtions thorogut hustory but not enforcible , a convetnion that a govt resigns upon loosing ge
works of authrirtiy are documents writte by consittuional experts explaining how a political sysyem is run
examples of conventions in the uk
the concention that the house of lordss shouldnt violete salsubry convention cnt vote agiant policys in ge mainsfesto
must attedn liason ommitee etc they sohuldnt get ignored
what has been the house of lords reform
aims of modernisation and demorcatisation
the hol reform act removed all but 92 heredeitroy peers
the majority o fpeers are now life peers
has the house of lords reform been a success and how has it been not a success aswell
success. removing most herditroy pers give a more modern european appaearcne adn it removes the hol inbuilt onservativ ebias whih cis good greating a fairer balance
now are life peers such as hogan howe commisiooner of cheif tof police whih improves the deomcratic legitimacy of the chamber
not success; not all herisotry pwers wer wactuall yremoved and no agreements on what to do next ultimetly as an uneclected chamber the hol still lacks immput legitimacy the pm and othe rparty leaders atil make appoitmments ot the hol suh as borris johnson apoointing his brother aswel as peter cruddas
should Hol be taken further or not
hol atil lacks democratic legitimacy hwihc is why it shoul db ereplaced wiht an elected chamber
the removal of most peers however has already made it mor eleigiamte so more chang is not neccassary
created an elected hol woul dmirrro the hoc and create the same issues o f bickering and woul dunderimine the ability to get things done in parlaiment the rsnge of expertise wou dbe reduced it would create policy gridlock
what had been the hoc reform and has it been success or failure
hoc wright reforms of 2010 whihc have been aimed at incresisng democracy and all select committeees ar enow mp selected and not chosen by partt leaders they are paid an additonal salary , members of party are selected not by the govt but by the party to ensre it is efficent
a backbench business commitee gets to cotnrol parliamentary timetbale for 35 days a year
a laison commitee was established
also the fixed term parliament act of 2011 and recall of mp act where a by lection can be triggered if 10 percent of consttuents sign a petition.
success and faillures of the hoc reforms
these have been successfull as reform commitess are now more independatn fom the govt so are able to more effectively scrutines them so this is a positive , recall of mps act 2015 strenethended our rpersentatvie democrcay whihc is a positive so people dont have to wait until the net ge.
not a success; as commitess lack legal power this was seen when bojo refused to attend the laizon commitee claiming to be to busy with brexit
the ftpa was scrapped and the govt still dominats parliamwntary ime table as oly 35 days are dedicated to the bbbc
should hoc rform be taken further
yes as select comittess should be given power to compel witnesses to attend and answer qeustions but thet cant becasue its onlt a convention , how can effective srcutiny take place when the pm doesnt even have to show up , the bbc shouold be give n more time
however a problem is that attemts to increas epower of backbench woul dpossibly undermine the govts ability to act efficently so thi sscrutiny woul dhinder the carrying out of a democracy
making it hard tocall an early election could result in innefecent govts that dont get policys done sucha s theresa mays minirty govt erhaps the uk woul still be debating brexit if not for her.
judicial reform in the uk
the cra or constir9nal reform act 2005 estalbshed the suprmee court as sepertion from the law lords and it opened in 2009
this reformed the apointments aswell by making it so they were appointed by the judcial appoijntents commission.
under the old stystme the pm was the one apointing the top jusges whihc coul d create unfair instances of democracy not being carried out propeely as it is partially undemocrtic to have it so that the pm is appointing them
success their independacne has been enhanced and the risk of political itnerference in regards to the judicary has been limited.
howve rnothing has changes tand the suprem court still have no power to actually enforce anyhing theve just moved acfross the street so it should be tken further to do so
