Sources of uk constitution
- Statute law
- Common law
- EU law
- Conventions
- Authoritative texts
3 key features of a codified constitution
- Authoritative - highest law
- Entrenched - cannot be amended easily
- Judicially - all political bodies are subject to its authority
Parliamentary sovereignty
Absolute and unlimited legal authority of parliament.
Is parliament sovereign?
- Not politically sovereign
- Shift to popular sovereignty with referendums
- Eu membership and devolution have led to quasi-federalism
Example of popular sovereignty
Edinburgh agreement 2012
- binds both governments to respect the will of the Scottish people
Rule of law
UK govt cannot ignore the law. They are subject to it. Unlike France where the president has legal immunity.
Chris huhne - lib dem minister
5 key principles of uk constitution
Parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary government Rule of law EU membership Constitutional monarchy
As EU membership eroded parliamentary sovereignty?
Yes: EU law is higher than uk law (factor tame case 1991)
No: uk can leave the EU. Pooled sovereignty.
Examples of codified constitution
Japan 1947
Never been amended
Super majority needed by both houses to make an amendment
USA only been amended 27 times since 1789
Examples of Uncodified constitutions
UK
New Zealand
Israel
Examples of authoritative texts
Bagehot’s ‘the English constitution’ 1867
A.v diceys work on rule of law
Arguments for codified constitution
- Clarity
- Limited government (especially those with minority mandates who seek major constitutional reforms)
- Uphold rights of citizens (prevention of terrorism act 2005)
- Strong judiciability - protected by judges
- Safeguarding the constitution - difficult for short term govts to make amendments for own benefit. Majorities needed
Arguments against codified constitution/ for Uncodified constitution
- Flexibility of Uncodified - adapt to social change (article 1-20 of German constitution cannot be amended)
- Strong government - codification limits power of govt too much.
- Accountability
- Popular control
- Judicial tyranny
- Tried and tested over the years, no need to codify
Reforms made by new labour
- Devolution
- Elected mayors
- House of Lords reform - appointments commission
- Human rights act
- Freedom of information act
- Electoral reform - PR introduced in devolved institutions
- Judicial reform - abolished lord chancellor and law lords position and established Supreme Court to separate powers
Coalition constitutional reforms
- Electoral reform - AV referendum
- Fixed term parliament
- House of Lords - elected chamber
- British bill of rights
- Equal constituency sizes
- E petitions
- Greater devolution - more power to welsh assembly and Scottish
- Elected mayors (referendums)
- EU - referendum
Key changes of constitutional reform
- Decentralised govt
- Protected rights
- HoL is more effective check on power
- Proportional electoral systems
- independent judiciary
- Govts cannot manipulate election dates
- More accountable MPs with constituency changes and recall
Criticisms of constitutional reform
- UK weakened by devolution
- HRA and greater judicial independence has created conflict between govt and judges
- Parliamentary sovereignty means that rights cannot be properly protected.
- Electoral reform has failed.
- Un democratic lords
- UK needs a codified constitution
- Executive tyranny
Strengths of the UK constitution
- Flexible
- Strong, decisive government
- Stood the test of time - tradition
- Parliamentary sovereignty makes government accountable
- Unitary nature helps to maintain national unity
- Independent judiciary protect rule of law
- Collective form of government
Weaknesses of UK constitution
- Too flexible and prone to manipulation by govts
- Too much government power - inadequate constitutional safeguards
- Old fashioned and outdated
- Parliament is too weak and unrepresentative
- Power is too centralised and un democratic
- Individual rights are not protected
- Difficult to understand due to Uncodified nature
