The British Constitution

The British Political System

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The Queen (monarch) has no important functions. She opens Parliament in November with a speech written by the Prime Minister and she closes the Parliament in July. She approves the appointment of the Prime Minister and she gives her Royal Assent to bills, but she isn’t able to bring in bills.

She is also the Head of the Commonwealth and the Head of the Church of England and she is Commander - in - Chief of the armed forces. The monarch has very little power and can only reign with the support of the Houses of Parliament also known as the Palace of Westminster in London.

The British Constitution

A constitution is a set of laws on how a country is governed. The British Constitution is unwritten, unlike the constitution in America or the proposed European Constitution, and as such, is referred to as an uncodified constitution in the sense that there is no single document that can be classed as Britain's constitution. The British Constitution can be found in a variety of documents. Supporters of our constitution believe that the current way allows for flexibility and change to occur without too many problems. Those who want a written constitution believe that it should be codified so that the public as a whole has access to it – as opposed to just constitutional experts who know where to look and how to interpret it.

Amendments to Britain’s unwritten constitution are made the same way – by a simply majority support in both Houses of Parliament to be followed by the Royal Assent.

The British Constitution comes from a variety of sources. The main ones are:

1. statute law (=laws agreed by Parliament)
 2. common law (=judges’ decisions made in court and then written down)

3. conventions ( =rules and practices that people cannot be forced to obey but which are considered necessary for efficient government)

The constitution can be altered by Acts of Parliament, or by general agreement.

Similarly, there is no single document that lists people’s rights. Some rights have been formally recognized by Parliament through laws, e.g. the right of a person not to be discriminated against because of his or her sex.

There are two basic principles to the British Constitution:

The Rule of Law, The Supremacy of Parliament

The countries which also have the so called unwritten constitution are: San Marino, Vatican and Israel.

Westminster – the Seat of Parliament

​Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament consists of two chambers – the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. The Queen opens and closes the Parliament. All three are part of Parliament in Britain.​

Дата добавления: 2015-12-08