Summary Tutorial 4: UK Constitutions Compared (5th Edition), ISBN: 9781780688831 Comparative Government (PUB1002/2020-200)

United Kingdom
Overview............................................................................................................................2
Monarchy and Parliament..................................................................................................3
The UK Constitution............................................................................................................5
The UK and Europe.............................................................................................................8
Devolution..........................................................................................................................9
What sets UK devolution apart from genuine federal systems?........................................10
Parliaments and Law-making...........................................................................................12
The UK..............................................................................................................................12
The Commons...................................................................................................................13
The Lords..........................................................................................................................15
The legislative process......................................................................................................16
UK Lawmaker formula......................................................................................................18
Royal Assent.....................................................................................................................20
The Lords..........................................................................................................................21
Political parties.................................................................................................................22
The UK..............................................................................................................................23
The King/ Queen...............................................................................................................23
The Prime Minister and his/her Cabinet............................................................................23
Parliamentary Scrutiny.....................................................................................................25
Ministerial Accountability.................................................................................................25
Judicial Review and Court Systems....................................................................................28
The Court System..............................................................................................................28
Constitutional Review.......................................................................................................28
International Treaties and the ECHR.................................................................................30
European Union Law.........................................................................................................32
Human Rights...................................................................................................................32
Human Rights Act.............................................................................................................32

Origins and main features

,Overview




Great Britain (four
England



countries)
Scotland

Wales


 As well as Northern Ireland
History
 England had conquered Wales already in the 13th century and had tied
it to itself legally in the 16th century
England, Wales+ Scotland
 United in 1707
 Both their parliaments passed Acts of Union, together forming the
Kingdom of Great Britain with a single British Parliament
Great Britain+ Ireland
 United in 1800
 Both their parliaments passed Acts of Union, creating the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Autonomy of Ireland
 Ireland, with the exception of its predominantly Protestant north-
eastern counties, was granted autonomy again in 1922
As a result, the present-day state is appropriately called United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Monarch
y and
Parliame Parliam ent
nt




King

,  Already the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England, from the 9th century
onwards, would convene advisory assemblies
 After the Norman conquest in 1066, the King would convene noble
landowners as well as senior clergy to form a King’s Council




The members of
the convened
the King depended the King’s Council
assembly would
on the lords of the developed into
increasingly use
fiefdoms in the what became
the opportunity of
country for tax known as
a dialogue with the
revenue and law Parliament: a
King in order to
enforcement, and chamber for
present grievances
thus sought debate and the
from the
consultation airing of criticism
population of their
home region
 In 1215, English nobility forced King John to accept the Magna Carta, a
document which provided for a number of civil liberties and which later
became a symbol showing that the monarch could be bound by law
 Aristocrats led by Simon de Montford rebelled against King Henry III
and in 1265 convened a Parliament which included not only feudal
nobility and clergy but also representatives of counties, towns and
boroughs: the so-called Commons
 The Parliament he convened in such composition in 1295 would
become the so-called Model Parliament, a blueprint for later
Parliaments
English Civil War
 Open conflict between Parliament and the ruling House of Stuart
 King Charles I was criticized for ruling arbitrarily
 The parliamentarians’ military commander Oliver Cromwell purged
Parliament of his opponents and established a brief republican system
By replacing one monarch with another, Parliament had asserted supremacy
over the crown
In the Bill of Rights it also enshrined other principles, declaring most notably
that the King may not
 suspend or repeal laws
 raise taxes
 establish extraordinary tribunals
 support a standing army in peacetime without the consent of
Parliament
 freedom of speech in Parliament and the citizens’ right to submit
petitions must be respected
Act of Settlement (1701)
 regulate the rules of royal succession to ensure that future monarchs
be neither Catholic themselves nor be married to a Catholic
This definitively ended the Stuart dynasty and George I from the Protestant

, House of Hanover ascended the throne
In spite of the assertion of parliamentary powers, the monarchy was preserved
 legislation is made by both Parliament and King/Queen-in-Parliament
 Bills receive the approval of the Commons and, normally, the Lords,
and enter into force with royal assent
 In reality the King/Queen is not free to withhold assent (a monarch has
not refused to approve a bill since 1707)
Parliamentary independence from the crown is also expressed in more
ceremonial ways
 The King/Queen addresses the Commons and the Lords in a joint
gathering to open a new session of Parliament
 he address takes place in the House of Lords because the King/Queen
(since the episode of Charles I trying to arrest his critics in the 17th
century) may not enter the House of Commons
 The Commons first discuss the Outlawries Bill; the Lords discuss the
Select Vestries Bill
 Both bills are centuries old, their actual content is meaningless, and
neither is meant to make any progress
Consideration as an important symbolic act emphasizing the control of
Parliament over its own agenda
 Only in second instance is the King/Queen’s speech discussed