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Politics > US/UK constitution > Flashcards

US/UK constitution Flashcards

1
Q

what is that nature of the UK constitution?

A

uncodified, unitary and unentrenched

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2
Q

what are the principles of the UK constitution?

A

parliamentary sovereignty, separation of powers

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3
Q

what is the nature of the US constitution?

A

codified, entrenched

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4
Q

what are the documents of the UK constitution?

A

Magna carta 1215, bill of rights 1689, act of settlement 1701, act of union 1707, parliament acts 1911 and 1949, 1972 EEC

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5
Q

what are the sources of the UK constitution?

A

conventions, common law, statute law, authoritative works

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6
Q

what was Dicey twin pillars of the UK constitution?

A

rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty

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6
Q

what did the magna carta do to the UK constitution?

A

an agreement that prevented the abuse of power by the monarch, established rule of law

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6
Q

what did the Bill of Rights do to the UK constiution?

A

power of the monarch was reliant on the consent of parliament, parliamentary privilege

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6
Q

what did the EEC do to the UK constitution?

A

Britain entered the European Economic Community, EU law now had precedence over UK law.

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6
Q

what did the act of union do to the UK constitution?

A

Scotland, Ireland with England to form Great Britain

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6
Q

what did the Act of Settlement do to the UK constitution?

A

only a protestant could become monarch, parliament decided the line of succession

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7
Q

What did the two parliament acts in 1911 and 1949 do to the UK constitution?

A

1911 - HOL no longer had control over money bills
1949 - could no longer delay a bill up to 2 years, reduced to 1 year only.

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7
Q

what is statute law? and why is it important?

A

all legislation that is created by parliament, it is an important source of the constitution because of parliamentary sovereignty. other sources can be overridden by statute law.

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7
Q

what is common law?

A

customs and judicial precedent, decisions that clarify the meaning of statute law, in the absence of statute law.

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8
Q

what are conventions?

A

customs and practices that are accepted as the way of doing thing, a convention that the government should resign if it is defeated in a vote of no confidence.

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9
Q

what are authoritative works?

A

books or written guides to the working of the constitution. they are widely respected that are not legally binding.

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10
Q

what are treaties? which affected the UK constitution?

A

treaties are agreements signed with out countries, those that affected the UK constitution where EEC 1972 and Maastricht Treaty 1992.

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11
Q

what was the influence of ECHR on the UK constitution?

A

the signing of the ECHR meant that all government actions needed to be in compliance with the ECHR. as well as the ECJ protected the rights of the UK workers.

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12
Q

what legislation protects the rights of UK citizens?

A

ECHR, Data protection act 1984. HRA 1998, freedom of information act, Equality act 2010

13
Q

what is the Equality act 2010?

A

the act brought all anti-discriminatory measures into a single document. no one could be discriminated against there gender, age, sexual orientation, disability etc.

14
Q

what did the HRA do?

A

ECHR became codified into British law, that all rights that citizens have to be in compliance with the EU law for human rights, it allows for cases can be discussed in courts in the UK rather than travelling to the ECJ in Europe

15
Q

how effective has legislation been in protecting rights?UK

A

HRA has not been entrenched, so it can be replaced and does not offer sufficient protection of rights and liberties. conservatives have planned to replace with the British bill of rights. as well as the rights can be set aside e.g., 9/11

16
Q

what are individual and collective rights

A

individual - those that an individual has, enables a free and fair society, protects minorities.
collective - those that groups, religious groups etc.

17
Q

what is an example of individuals and collective rights conflicting?

A

after 9/11, the government wished to detain suspected terrorists without trial and evidence that proves that they are a terrorist, but this was ruled against, seen as discrimination. individual protected, but collective could still be seen in harms way.

18
Q

what are examples of constitutional change/reform since 1997?

A

House of Lord Act 1999 - 92 hereditary peers
Devolution - power no longer centralised and unitary, primary powers to Scotland and Wales
CRA 2005 - law lords removed, supreme court separate
HRA 1998
AV 2011 referendum - 42% turnout 68% N
voting age lowered to 16 for Scotland
freedom of information act 2000

19
Q

what are the problems with the US constitution being codified?

A

vagueness - leaves lot to interpretation on the final say by the sc judges
amendments - difficult due to it being entrenched
Elastic cause - vagueness causing conflicts between state and federal government

20
Q

what is good about US constitution being codified?

A

entrenchment - preserves the intentions of the founding fathers, prevents populist movements from making changes without thorough thinking
vagueness - can adapt to the modern world, interpreted as different things
simplicity - allows all citizens to clear understand their rights
clarity - clear outline of structure with separation of powers, preventing one branch gaining too much power.

21
Q

what does Article 1 mean of the US constitution?

A

grants all legislative powers to congress
outlines the election process for each chamber and the powers allotted to them

22
Q

what does Article 2 mean of the US constitution?

A

grants executive powers to a president, sits for 4 years, max of 2 terms
elected by the electoral college

23
Q

what does Article 3 mean of the US constitution?

A

grants all judicial power to the sc, no term limit

24
Q

what does Article 4 mean of the US constitution?

A

sets out rules for relationships between the states, as all states have to respect the laws of other states

25
Q

what does Article 5 mean of the US constitution?

A

sets out the process to amend the constitution
formal - 2/3 of congress and 3/4 ratify
informal - sc

26
Q

what does Article 6 mean of the US constitution?

A

supremacy clause - constitution is the law of the land

27
Q

what does Article 7 mean of the US constitution?

A

outlines the ratification process

28
Q

outline the amendment process in the US.

A

formal - 2/3 supermajority of congress to vote to amend
or 2/3 call for a constitutional convention
then requires the ratification from 3/4 of states

29
Q

what is the Bill of Rights? name 5

A

the first ten amendments of the constitution
1st - right to freedom, free speech
2nd - right to bare arms
4th - right to not be subjected to unreasonable search and seizures
6th - right to a trial by jury
8th - right to not have cruel and unusual punishments
10th - all powers not granted to the federal government, granted to states and people.

30
Q

what are the advantages of the amendment process?

A

hard to change, prevents populist movement changes
protects the rights of smaller states - those with smaller population able to maintain their rights against larger states
protects the principle that founding fathers intended it to be

31
Q

what are the disadvantages of the amendment process?

A

smaller states are overrepresented
it can be undemocratic as 13 states can block the will of the people
e.g., the ERA has received a supermajority in both houses, but blocked by a small group of conservative states refusing to ratify the amendment

32
Q

what is a divided/united government?

A

divided - where the president only has a majority in either the senate or the HOR
united - where the president has the majority in both the senate and the HOR

33
Q

what is bi/partisanship?

A

bipartisanship - where the two parties are willing to work together to pass legislation - CARES act 2020
partisanship - where a party has to depend on its own party to pass legislation as the opposition is voting against it.

34
Q

what is gridlock?

A

where no legislation is able to be passed as the opposition is the majority of congress

35
Q

what are the names of the founding fathers?

A

Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington

36
Q

when was the US constitution written and ratified?

A

written - 1787
ratified - 1788
operation since 1789, when the Articles of Confedration stopped, 1777

37
Q

what is the connecticut compromise?

A

provided for a bicameral legislature, with representation in the House of Representatives according to population and in the Senate by equal numbers for each state

38
Q

what two plans was the connecticut compromise made up of?

A

New Jersey plan - each state to receive equal representation, 2 senators
Virginia plan - population represented, by HoR members

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