The Characteristics Of The British Constitution

One strength of the UK constitution is the flexibility that it has, for the reason that the constitution is uncodified or unwritten and is therefore not entrenched in law. Due to the fact that the UK’s constitution is uncodified or unwritten, it has an opportunity to modernise itself to the ever changing society or any other new circumstances that may arise. An example of the flexibility of the UK’s

The Differences Betweek the UK and US Constitutions The constitution of a state, at its most basic, can be described as the fundamental principles from which it is governed, usually defining how power is split up within it and thereby constructing a framework within which it operates (www.oed.com). In this essay, I will first provide a brief summary of the UK and US constitutions and then attempt to outline the key differences and similarities between the two and discuss whether the differences really do pale in comparison with the fundamental similarities. Queen Elizabeth the 2nd once said, “The British constitution has always puzzled me” (Hennessy, 1996) and this certainly becomes

The English Bill of Rights was a British law passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1689. The bill declared the rights and liberties of the people. The bill had a massive influence on the colonies in North America and the Constitution of the United States. It established a limited constitutional monarchy in Great Britain. It clearly established that the monarchy could not rule without the consent of Parliament.

A written constitution is considered the highest form of law and is respected because of this. There is no such principle in the British constitution because sovereignty lies with Parliament.

The passing of the English Bill of Rights ushered in a new age for England, giving the power of the Monarchy to the Parliament, and banning the Monarch from adjourning Parliament or going against the opinion of its majority. The Bill lists that many tyrannical actions that had previously been made by many kings, such as levying money and suspending/revoking laws were illegal without the consent of Parliament (Document 3), essentially giving Parliament control of the direction of English law. The English Bill of Rights was ratified by William in 1689, which directly stated multiple times that the ruler’s power was to be checked by Parliament, thus inhibiting them from exercising full power over the people, preventing tyranny. He states in Document 2 that he and his wife Mary will “concur in everything that may procure the peace and happiness of [the] nation, which a free and lawful Parliament shall determine… [and support] the securing of the whole nation the free enjoyment of all their laws, rights, and liberties,

In two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, Americans fought and died so that democracy would prevail around the world. In the minds of many Americans, America is the bastion of democracy. But how democratic is America? Today’s America was “born” with the signing of the constitution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, it was determined how democratic America would be. And every American should ask himself how democratic America was made at that constitutional convention in Philadelphia.

Britain, to begin with, has no written constitution due to the country’s own constitutional structure’s stability. It remains uncodified, yet it’s legal sources stem from Acts of parliament, European Union law, equity and common law,. Therefore the varying powers of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law will be considered against these sources.

The new King attempted to create the Dominion of New England, which was planned to organize the northern colonies into a one large province and then to be ruled by a “royal appointee”. Yet, it had failed to be put into action. This, and the events happening in England, would lead to the Glorious Revolution following a few years later. The Glorious Revolution had rejected James II’s authority and after the overthrow of his authority the northern colonies were free from the Dominion of New England. The new King (William) seemed to have no interest in the colonies and left them to fend for themselves, which allowed the colonies to self-govern. The Bill of Rights, which Parliament had passed in 1689, would later on be a model of how the colonies would rule

Refer to Table 1-1 of The American Democracy, and in 100 to 150 words, identify and explain America’s 3 core political ideals and the 3 rules of American politics.

The constitution first started to provide protection over tyranny in the summer of 1787 where fifty-five delegates met in Philadelphia to help readjust the national government for the better. The task of each representative was to come together to create ideas without letting one person or any one group be in hold of too much power in order for the central government to grow stronger. The constitution had help led by the Articles of Confederation with their influence on not having a court system to make the state force a pay on taxes. The main challenge was to generate a Constitution that would be strong enough to retain possession of power for each state to a minimum so not a single person was the only one to have power or control. The guard on tyranny was supported in 4 ways federalism,separation of powers, checks and balances and small/large state compromises.

The UK’s unwritten constitution, formed of Acts of Parliament [AoP], Royal Prerogative [RP], Constitutional Convention [CC] and Case Law [CL], prompts much debate about the ease of which constitutional change can be introduced. A written constitution is, by definition and practice, hard to alter however it remains to be seen whether it is any easier to change an unwritten

Any nationwide endeavor across the world over is always faced with a myriad of challenges when one factor in, the interest of different individuals or groups. During the early years of the USA, there were many problems that politicians at the time faced when trying to create and strengthen the country’s Constitution. In the early 1780’s the young country was in a deep depression, and this played a key role in influencing the exercise as it ultimately led to a heated debate about the powers of the National and State governments. Most of the conservative politicians at the time preferred a stronger federal government while state radicals believed that states should have more power since it was in a better position to determine what was best for their citizens (Jilson, 2009). More sticking points divided the founding fathers which threatened the stability and establishment of the USA, such as slavery and federalism.

A constitution is a set of rules which may be written or unwritten, establishes the distribution of power in a political system, the limits of government jurisdiction, the rights of citizens and the method of amending the constitution itself. An uncodified constitution is unwritten, or at least not written all in one document. The constitution in the UK is found in a variety of sources which are mainly statute and common law, conventions and traditions, European law etc. There are arguments for the UK to both retain an uncodified constitution and to change this to a codified constitution like the USA. Some of the arguments for retaining the uncodified system are that; codification produces

The British constitution is flexible in nature, which has allowed for the development of this country over centuries without the need for a fully codified constitution. I

Parliamentary sovereignty, a core principle of the UK's constitution, essentially states that the Parliament is the ultimate legal authority, which possesses the power to create, modify or end any law. The judiciary cannot question its legislative competence, and a Parliament is not bound by former legislative provisions of earlier Parliaments. The ‘rule of law’ on the other hand, is a constitutional doctrine which primarily governs the operation of the legal system and the manner in which the powers of the state are exercised. However, since the Parliament is capable of making any law whatsoever, the concept of the rule of law poses a contradiction to the principle of parliamentary supremacy, entailing that Parliament is not bound by the