Constitution - Introduction to Sources & Features

• A set of rules and principles written or unwritten, codified or uncodified which exist between various branches of the state – the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Constitution regulates the relationship between the state and its citizens – between the government and the governed.

How It Works In The UK:

Legislature: Make laws – Parliament, Commons, Lords, Queen

Executive: Implement laws – Government, PM, Cabinet, Civil Service

Judiciary: Enforce laws – Police, courts, army

• If all three are in the hands of one person is known as a tyranny
• Keeping the 3 apart is separation of power
• Fusion of power between the legislature and the executive. Because both the PM and the cabinet are in Parliament.

How It Works In The USA:

Legislature: Make laws – Congress, Senate, Representatives

Executive: Implement laws – President

Judiciary: Enforce laws – Courts

• Designed to create a limited government so one person isn’t too powerful
• Includes a system of checks and balance

The Differences Between Codified & Uncodified Constitutions:

• Codified: A single authoritative document that sets out the law, rules and principles by which a state is governed and which protects the rights of citizens
• Uncodified: A constitution where the laws, rules and principles specify how a state is governed and this is not in a single document instead they are found in a variety of sources – some are written (statute law) and some are unwritten (convention).

Features Of Codified & Uncodified
Codified	Uncodified
Rules and principles governing the state are collected in a single authoritative document	No single authorize document, rules are found in multiple sources, both are written and unwritten
Has the status of fundamental law and is superior to all other law	Have the same status – no hierarchy of laws
It is entrenched, with special procedures for its amendments which makes it hard to change it	Judicial review is limited as there is no single authorize document that judges can use
The courts tend to use the constitution to determine the actions of others	Not entrenched so it can be amended like ordinary law

• Entrenched: Difficult to change (literally dug in) often requiring supermajorities or approval by referendums
• Fundamental Law: Constitution law that is delivery set above regular statue in terms of status and given a degree of protection against a regular law passed by the legislature.

Sources Of UK Constitution:

Statue Law:

• Law created by Parliament.
• Acts of Parliament have to be approved by the Houses Of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch.
• Placed on books that they become the force of law. Not all are official acts of Parliament.
• Recent examples include: Human rights act and fixed Parliament act.

Common Law:

• Law derived from general customs or traditions and the decisions of judges
• Senior judges use their power of judicial review to use a position on statiue law
• The government of the day can always overturn such common law by means of an Act of Parliament.
• Can only be unlawful or incompatible with the human right act
• Includes customs and precedents that have accepted that are legally binding

The Royal Prerogative:

• Discretionary powers of the crown that are exercised by government ministers in the monarch’s name.
• Includes the right to: Appoint ministers and choose the PM
• Give Royal Assent to legislation
• Declare war and negotiate treaties
• Held formally by the monarch by now exercised by government ministers in the name of the crown
• Designed to enhance government.
• Monarch has been asked to approve bills relating to these powers
• In 1999, a bill was rejected to sought the transfer to declare way was from the monarch to Parliament.

Conventions:

• Established norms of political behaviour, rooted in the fast experience rather than the law.
• Not codified of legacy enforced
• Adds these conventions to yet another document
• Conventions have authority e.g Royal Assent
• New conventions can be added e.g Brown said the UK government would not declare war without a vote in Parliament.

Features Of UK Constitution:

Parliamentary Sovernity:

• A doctrine that Parliament has absolute legal authority within the state. It has legislation supremacy so they can make any law it chooses on and they cannot be overturned by or on higher authority or bind its successors.

The Rule Of Law:

• A legal theory holding that the relationship between the state and the individual is governed by the law protecting the individual from state action.
• State action is limited and responsible

The Three Main Strands:

• No one can be punished without trial
• No one is above the law and all are subject to the same justice
• The general principles of the constitution like personal freedom result from judicial made common laws rather than Parliament.

What Does This Mean:

• Everyone is equal under the law, those charged under the law are entitled to a fair trial and should be imprisoned without the legal process from taking place
• The courts hold the government ministers, police officers and public officials accountable for there actions if they have acted outside the law
• Laws passed by Parliament must be interpreted and applied by an independent judiciary – free from political interference.
• Citizens can take the government to court if they feel they have threated wrongly.
• This is essentially a feature of liberal democracy, author ParaSou said any effort to overturn these would be seen is illegitimate.

A Unitary State:

• Constitutions can be classified according to whether they concentrate on political power at the centre of the divide between central and regional tiers of government.
• The 4 nations (England, Scotland, Wales & NI) have a higher centralised state in which legal sovereignty is retained by Westminister

In One We Have:

• Subnational institutions do not have autonomous powers that are safeguarded
• Regional governments may be weak or non-existent
• Local governments have little power
• In a federal constitution such as Germany or the USA, power is shared between the nations and the regionals (state). Each tier of government is given specific powers but they cannot abolish any other tier.

Unitary State	Union State	Federal State
Highly centralised state where power is at the centre	A state whose component parts have come together through a union of crowds	A state which the constitution divides decision making between federal and regional.
Central government has ultimate authority	High degree of administrative standardisation, some are separate though.	Different tiers of government are provided by the constitution.
Centre dominates the political economic and cultural areas	Political power is concentrated at the centre but component nations have some degree of autonomy.	Regions within the state have a distinctive political and cultural identity.
All areas of the state are governed in the same way

Parliament Government Under A Constitutional Monarchy:

• Government ministers are legally held accountable under the crown
• Between elections, a government relies on majorities in the Houses of Commons to survive and enact its legislative programme.
• The balance of power has altered between time, the Glorious Revolution of 1689 established the supremacy of Parliament over the monarchy.
• The key conventions of a constitutional monarchy gradually fell into place but the usage of constrained.
• Political parties emerge as the key actors in the conduct of government
• By the 19^th century, A.V.Dicey described the government as a cabinet government as the cabinet make policies.
• Now it is a Prime Ministerial Government as the PM does everything.
• Supporters of traditional constitutional settlement believe that reform should be limited and pragmatic.
• Changes should work rather than overtake it.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Adaptability: Has evolved gradually, the Conservative party think it should be a living body rather than a creation.	Outdated: Some say it is outdated, ineffective and undemocratic.
Strong Government: Strong, single-party government with one party that has most of the governing power in the Houses of Commons	Concertation Of Power: Power is at the centre of and there are few safeguarding of state power. A government with a majority can pass anything they want to which undermines civil liberties.
Accountability: Government should be held accountable by Parliament and the electorate.	Lack of clarity: Creates problem of clarity and interpretation. Not clear if the government has acted against the Constitution. Hard for to alter or change the system.