ELTE, AME-121, British Constitution, notes
by UNKNOWN author Constitution is a basic
law which… in the US: The longest written living
constitution (since 1787 by 55 founding fathers). Three levels of authority: Federal, State (eg. In some states you are executed for murder, in others you are not), Local (eg. you can be fined for $500 for littering in some places, in others you are not). Changing of constitution inflexible: 2/3 majority in congress, 3/4 in states required to change the constitution (only 26 amendments have passed in 220 years).
in the UK: Unwritten constitution composed of factors and elements. Unitar y constitution: Unifiedly valid all over the UK. Flexible: House of commons > House of Lords > Queen looks at it then passes it (no right to send it back).
The Parliament - Any act of the Parliament gets in.
- Since 1949, the Upper House (Lords) has had only 1 year to delay a bill and the second time it goes instantly to the Queen
- Financial bills get sent straight to the Queen as well > House of Lords is not really needed anymore
EU Legislation (since 1973)
- EU legislation enjoys priority over member countries’ legislation
Convention (a tradition only)
- The queen should ask the largest party to form a government
Rules and procedures- No button-pushing
- No hand-raising
- No aye/nay
- They run around and go through yes/no doors instead
Parliamentary democracy- It has been evolving for many years
- 1215: Magna Charta
- 1265: 1st parliament
- House of Lords: Barons; Bishops & Archbishops
- House of Commons: Burgesses from towns
- 17th century: Civil war – Commonwealth with Cromwell as Landprotector
- 1660: Restoration
- 1689: Glorious Evolution – Middle&Upper Class invite William of Orange, „British King and Queen rule but do not govern”
- 1679: Habeus Corpus Act – No one can be put into jail without proper charges.
- 1929: Voting for women who are over 21 (18 after the 1960’s)
Government Branches -
Legislative: To pass bills. (US: congress)
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Executive: PM and cabinet. (US: prezident)
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Judiciary: Courts (to pass judgement in civil and criminal cases and to interpret the constitution)
The idea is for the branches to be separate.
- US: Checks and balances
- UK: Not so separate
The British Cabinet- Members can only come from inside the parliament
- They control the legislative and the executive
- The judiciary’s members are usually not cabinet members
- It is up to the PM who he invites to the cabinet
The British party system- Conservative versus Labour. They disagree in everything, except for rejecting proportional representation.
- There are regular shifts from one party to another: Conservatives dominating in 20th century, but they only got more than 50% twice
- Third party: Liberals – Liberal Democratic Party
- There are also smaller parties, 3 or 4 of them.
- Parties are organised channels to represent certain values. For example:
Labour: Against nuclear weapons, pro-education, pro-free market, pro-EU
- 1945-1979: They were quite the same
- 1979: M. Thatcher started to emphasise the differences
- 1997: The difference became very small. Tony Blair adapted lots of policies of the conservatives.