Comparative Law Report : United Kingdom And The United States

One of the three main theories that work as basis of the organisation of the United Kingdom is the Doctrine of separation of powers, such as Parliament sovereignty and the rule of law. This essay is going to critically discuss whether the United Kingdom needs and have the clear separation of powers.

The United Kingdom can easily change their laws than most countries, which can be beneficial to new situations. Furthermore, the British Constitution does not have a set stone and it illustrate to their residents on how as well as when political power is allocated, which allows politicians and attorneys to relied on the constitutional authorities to grasp a better understanding.

Since the British North America Act was adopted in 1867, Canada has been developing and writing up their own laws independently from other countries. Many people believe that, though our Canadian laws have come far from the days of the BNA act, they are still not up to par with the harshness of American laws. The advantage that Canadians have over Americans is that in Canada, there is only one criminal code for all Canadians whereas in the United States, every State has their own criminal codes which, unfortunately for the Americans, are not identical. Also, the United States and Canada each have a law that is fraught with the possibility that an injustice will be brought upon those whom these laws apply. In the United States, it is the

Under the British constitution, parliament is sovereign. This means, amongst other things, that Parliament has a monopoly on making and amending laws. The British constitution, and the three functions of government which operate it often falls short of creating a definitive separation. Separation of powers refers to the idea that the major institutions of government should function independent of each other, in a utopian world there should aim to be a balance between the Crown and Parliament. In practice however, separation between the executive and legislature is near enough non-existent, an example being that government is made up almost entirely of MPs. Contrast this with the USA where no member of Obama’s government is equally a member of congress. However, the USA does have a codified constitution, a constitution written to delegate a clear separation of power. As we are well aware the UK doesn’t have such a constitution, the rules that

The central government is normally located in the capital city; which in our case it’s London. The central government runs the whole country by taking up the most important responsibilities that any other government levels in the UK has. These responsibilities are making new laws, signing agreements with the other nations and also defending the nation. The central government has these responsibilities as it’s the main government within the UK and it contains the 3 political institutions which make up parliament which are: the House of Commons, and the House of Lords and the monarch. These institutions work together. The house of commons creates new laws which they feel will work well for the British community. The house of lords has a

In UK there are two main levels in the system of the government; these are the Central

Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law are both concepts that are key to shaping the British constitution, however there is ambiguity as to which concept is the heart of the UK’s constitutional arrangement in the recent years.

Parliamentary sovereignty is the key stone in the British Constitution. If judges were to make law then they would be contradicting this doctrine. The legislative supremacy disqualifies the courts power to review the validity of legislation, refer to British Railway Board v Pickin . The objective of judges is to not make law but simply declare what the law had always been. Acts of Parliament are the highest form of authority and the courts hands are tied by it. But through the doctrine of precedent, the judicial function of declaring and applying the law has a ‘quasi-legislative effect’.

The doctrine of separation of power is not followed in England, it follows a parliamentary form of government where the parliament is supreme. Instead of crown that is the nominal head, the cabinet calls the shots on most of the matters. (Peterson)

In England their form of government is called the Parliamentary Monarchy and the Queen Elizabeth II is the monarch for England. Crown is another name for monarch. “It serves as the head of the judiciary, commander in chief of the armed forces, supreme governor of the Church of England, and Church of Scotland, and summons and dismisses Parliament and ministers of the cabinet” (Meadows, 2001). With advice from the prime minister, the crown appoints, diplomats, military officials, judges, and archbishops and gives awards and honors. Justices of the peace known as local magistrates hear petty offenses. Local magistrates are unpaid members of the community who have been appointed by the Lord Chancellor. “Serious offenses are sent ot a Crown Court and jury of local citizens will make convictions and sentences which will be taken to the Court of Appeals for the Criminal Divisions with the final court appeals being the House of Lords” (Meadows, 2001).

The dispersion of power in the UK varies greatly, each country having a different seat on the level-pegging of power over one another - in particular, policy areas, due to the various referendums, including ones already mentioned. This is called an asymmetrical devolution system.

the prosecution, court, or defense. There are also several test to determine the clients’ insanity such as the M’Naughten Rule, Irresistible Impulse Test, and the Durham Standard. The M’Naghten standard or rule states that the client must have a defect or mental illness of the mind, as to not know the quality or nature of the crime that she was doing or if she knew what she was doing, or she did not know what she had done or did was wrong. Disease of the mind would mean that the client was in an emotional state or , intoxicated by drugs or alcohol. The irresistible Impulse test states that although the client could tell the difference from right and wrong, he or she was still subjected to an mental illness. This meant that at the time of the crime, the client lost power or control to choose between wrong and right, and that the crime

The concept of devolution was first introduced in 1998 in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Devolution can be defined as the process whereby the central authority delegates part of her powers to the local or regional authority to exercise on her behalf. In this case, the UK parliament, which is the central authority, transfers some of its powers to the local authorities which are the Scottish parliament, the Northern Ireland parliament, the London Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales.

Question Number or Title: It has been consistently argued that the judiciary in England and Wales is not reflective of society. Critically consider the explanations for the lack of diversity within the judiciary and the extent to which government legislation and initiatives have tried to increase diversity within the judiciary?

The modern American judicial system was founded upon the morals and ideals brought forth in the Age of Reason and aided in providing legal protection to defendants on trial. As a nation with such strong religious ties, the Age of Reason brought forth new ideas and beliefs about government and lawmaking. Judiciary historical blunders such as the Salem Witch Trials paved the pathway for reform and aided in the formation of a new nation based on a set of written laws, customs, and regulations. The trials at Salem was founded upon the basis of the English Common Law system and the principles of the Age of Reason, and therefore affected our American Constitution and governmental practices.