A Constitution is a whole system of government of a country and seen to be the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government. It is also viewed to be the set of laws, rules and practices that create the basic institutions of the state. The UK adopts an unwritten, flexible, unitary constitution which is monarchical in nature. This means that there has never been an attempt to write down the rules of the constitution in a single document, instead rules are found through precedent and case law. The UK constitution is described to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. This means that our constitution does not flow from an event in history. Due to the unwritten constitution, it is very flexible which means that any element of the UK constitution can be changed through an ordinary act of parliament at any time. The UK constitution is also unitary which means that power may be decentralised, but this is entirely through ordinary legislation which can subsequently be withdrawn. The monarchical element of the UK constitution means that the Monarch is head of state, for example, Queen Elizabeth II who symbolises the nation.
The Sovereign have certain prerogative powers to exercise. However, with in the constitutional monarchy we find a set of conventions which limit the discretion of the sovereign so that his or her public acts are in reality those of ministers. The royal prerogative includes the powers to appoint and dismiss ministers, regulate the civil service, issue passports and to declare war, to name a few.. In present day laws, the Sovereign has a prerogative power to dismiss her Minster’s, either singly or in mass. However, this legal power is overlaid by convention, and in practice whether or not the Minister’s are dismissed is in the hands of the current Prime Minister. These principles are derived from the passing of the Reform Bill 1832 and since 1783; no British Sovereign has dismissed a Prime Minister. It is now seen to be unconstitutional for the Sovereign to dismiss the Prime Minister, unless in the most exceptional circumstances. If the Sovereign does decide to dismiss a minister and the dismissal is not supported by the public opinion, the monarchy could be placed in jeopardy.
The relationship between the sovereign and the Prime Minister is said to be “Bi-lateral”. By this we mean that both persons hold some principles of constitutional behaviour. If the Prime Minister steps outside of these principles, the Sovereign may respond by dismissing either them or their minister’s. There are an unwritten set of rules which have been accepted by parties and their leaders, if it was obvious that they were digressing from their rules, personal intervention by the Sovereign will be constitutionally justified.
To conclude, the constitutional right of Sovereign to dismiss Ministers of the Crown have been restricted in the present day in comparison to the past. The Sovereign has the prerogative powers to dismiss ministers, but it seems that in the present day there needs to be a valid justification towards such an act. This is illustrated when George III dismissed the North Fox coalition government in the 18th century. Now, as we are progressing in to the 21st century, it is seen to be
Constitutional Law Revision Essay Question: 1) “It is true to state that the United Kingdom does not have a constitution”. Intro: In this essay I am going to question whether it is correct to say that the United Kingdom does not have a constitution. To establish whether the United Kingdom (UK) does have a constitution or not, I must firstly define the meaning of the term 'constitution'. On oxforddictionaries.com the term constitution is defined as being '. A body of fundamental principles…
Chapter 2 Constitutional Law Introduction Many people assume that a government acts from a vague position of strength and can enact any regulation it deems necessary or desirable. This chapter emphasizes a different perspective from which to view the law: action taken by the government must come from authority and this authority cannot be exceeded. Neither Congress nor any state may pass a law in conflict with the Constitution. The Constitution is the supreme law in this country…
and the US Constitution The Magna Carta and the United States Constitution are significantly important documents when it comes to studying history. They are similar in a number of ways, because they are both focused on providing a charter or rule of law by which people would live. However, they do much more than that. They also help to limit the powers of the government and make sure that the people who are governed have freedoms and rights that are very important to them. The documents are far from…
Nancy Provines Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure Assignment 1 3/5/15 (resubmission) As discussed in the assignment description and facts, Congress authorized President George H.W. Bush’s war against Iraq (after a major troop build-up in the region already happened) and President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq over a decade later. While the White House maintained it was a formality or “rubber stamp”, it was nonetheless sought after by the President. As Commander in Chief of the Armed…
criminal law is the foundation of the criminal justice system. (Lippman) In any given criminal act the law states that innocent until proven guilty which brings us through steps such as evidence and leading up to an arrest by police, trail before the courts, and incarceration in prison. Criminal laws mainly focus on murder, rape, robbery however in the different states there are different laws that may state that something different is considered criminal law. Criminal Law is the branch of law in which…
watertight; laws typically originate in the executive branch as bills that aren’t expected to change much as they make their way through legislative mill legislature dominated by small groups of members (Prime Minister and cabinet) who oversee executive branch bureaucrats, who implements passed laws, often have large discretion in determining the actual meaning of the laws legislative branch represent the people and accountable to them thru periodic elections debate public issues make laws executive…
pace at which UK Parliament and courts as part of a globalised world have had to squarely confront these constitutional changes, especially the departure from Parliament’s…
the law and protect civil liberties. The Rule of Law as defined by Dicey states that ‘No man is punishable except for a breach of the law’ and it is judges that try and uphold the law and make sure no one is falsely imprisoned. Also the UK has a common law system were many legal principles are derived from decisions made my judges. Therefore, decisions of judges and the way in which judges interpret the law can have major impacts on constitutional rights. Ever since the 2005 Constitutional Reform…
Constitutional Interpretation: Engineers’ Case and criticisms of Callinan J in the Workchoices’ Case. By Mark Walker Introduction In the dissenting judgment made by Callinan J in the landmark New South Wales v Commonwealth (“Workchoices’ Case”), a strong criticism was mounted against constitutional interpretation methods employed in the judicial forum. Explicitly, this conjecture was focused at Isaacs J’s judgement in Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (“Engineers’…
The expression ‘the rule of law’ has changed over time, with different meanings developing at different era’s in time. Despite being widely claimed to be the most important element that underpins the Australian legal system, legal theorist constantly struggle to conjure up a succinct definition for ‘the rule of law.’ There are many legal theorists who have offered their own interpretations on the concept of ‘the rule of law.’ This essay examines the explanation that has been developed by many legal…