UNIT 1 – CONSTITUTION P. KAPITANIAK PREAMBLE This course aims at introducing you to the political institutions and legal system of the British people. Before we start, we would like to ask you whether you understand the different names the British use for their country: the United Kingdom, Britain, Great Britain, England, the British Isles. What do all these different names indicate? • The United Kingdom (the U.K.) means the same as Britain. • Britain comprises Great-Britain and Northern Ireland. • Great Britain comprises England, Wales and Scotland. For many people, England is the leading country. The capital of the U.K., London, is in England. The Queen, the Government and Parliament work in London. English is the official language spoken in England. The geographical term 'British Isles' is used for all the islands composing the archipelago (Great Britain, Ireland and the smaller islands). To sum up, Britain comprises Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland, and is a member state of the European Union. Its full name is: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. THE CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY The United Kingdom of Great Britain is divided into four countries with three distinct jurisdictions, each having its own court system and legal profession. 1+2. England and Wales have a common legislature and court system. English lawyers can practise in courts located in Wales and vice versa. 3. Scotland with a devolved legislature on some matters and a separate court system and judiciary. Scots law is technically as foreign to English law as the law of France. 4. Northern Ireland with a devolved legislature on some matters and a separate court system and judiciary closely modelled on the English system. English lawyers do not practise in Northern Ireland and vice versa. These pages are written from an English viewpoint and so we will deal mainly with England and Wales. 1 UNIT 1 – CONSTITUTION P. KAPITANIAK Like all member countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom is a democracy, but its major feature is that it is one of the oldest constitutional monarchies in the world. This means that the United Kingdom is a monarchy... with a constitution. The concept dates back to the 17th century when the Stuart kings stepped outside the limits of their power. The English monarchy was absolute then. There had been parliaments in the kingdom since 1295, but they had a roughly consultative function. Gradually they demanded more power. There was a Civil War from 1642 to 1648 between partisans of King Charles I and those of Parliament, at the end of which the king was beheaded. Those familiar with Alexandre Dumas’s Vingt ans après may remember this tragic episode. A troubled period followed after which another king, James II, was forced to abdicate in 1688. When James’s daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange were invited to take the throne, Parliament imposed limits on their power in the Bill of Rights of 1689 which was the first constitutional rule after the Magna Carta (1215). A constitutional monarchy replaced the absolute monarchy. For the first time, the supremacy of Parliament was recognized and the nation acquired the right to change a monarch it could no longer bear for a better one. Thenceforth, Parliament had much more power than the sovereign and became the principal source of authority in the country. Gradually, rules have been made in order to refine, amend, correct the way the country is to be governed. The result is that people talk about the British Constitution because there are constitutional rules, but there is no single written document you could refer to as such. In contrast with most other countries, it is not possible to point to one text and say “this is our constitution”, nor is there any doctrine of the supremacy of the constitution over other legislation as in the United States, nor any constitutional court, nor any formal doctrine of separation of powers. I. THE CONSTITUTION There are five different elements which compose the constitution of the United Kingdom. Since they are not codified in one single document, as in most countries, they must be consulted separately. 1. Parliamentary legislation, also called “Statute Law” Traditionally, the most important source of the constitution comes from Parliament itself, when it legislates on a matter concerning political organization or the 2 UNIT 1 – CONSTITUTION P. KAPITANIAK guarantees of the rights and freedoms of individuals. Among the most significant Acts of Parliament, also called statutes, there are: - the Magna Carta (1215) providing the first charter of individual liberties, including the right of trial by jury, habeas corpus (the right for a person to know the charge brought against him) and the principle of no taxation without representation - the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701) which limit the power of the monarchy - the Reform Bill (1832) and the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, modifying the power and structure of Parliament - the European Community Act of 1972 and the Single European Act of 1987 making Britain a member of the European Union. Many other laws organize the distribution and exercise of power among the organs of the state. The body of all the Acts of Parliament passed in the British Parliament is called Statute Law. Statute Law is thus that part of English law which is composed of legislation, in other words, all the laws or all the statutes. 2. Constitutional matters decided in a court of law by judges. When judges make decisions in court their decisions are called judgments or pronouncements. Their decisions have the weight of law which will be explained in more detail later on. These judicial pronouncements are part of an immense body of law called “Case Law” and sometimes “Common Law”. Certain basic principles are derived from these decisions such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and of association. 3. E.U. Law Regulations of the European Union create individual rights and duties directly enforceable in the British Courts. European directives are not directly applicable, but Parliament is required to implement them through national legislation. The constitutional provisions, found in these sources, all have the force of law and consequently judges recognise and enforce them in court. There are two other sources of British constitutional law, but they concern the organisation and workings of government more than the lives of individual citizens. 3 UNIT 1 – CONSTITUTION P. KAPITANIAK 4. Parliamentary Privilege This is the body of law that relates to the operation of Parliament and the status of its members. The most important rule concerns freedom of speech in Parliament. What is said during debates cannot be questioned in any court or place outside. Another important privilege is the right of the House of Commons to control its composition and proceedings. The House enforces these rules itself. It can discipline its own members and take measures in cases of serious breaches of Parliamentary Privilege. 5. Constitutional Conventions This fifth source of constitutional law is made of conventions which are traditions, or customs, followed over generations; they help organize how government operates. These rules are not written in any formal document, and some are not written down at all. Judges cannot enforce them. However, these conventions are respected by everybody although they are not drafted in any specific document. The most well- known conventions are: - the convention that Parliament must meet at least once a year - the convention that the sovereign does not attend Cabinet meetings - the convention that ministers who lose the confidence of the House of Commons on a major issue must resign - the convention that the Queen does not refuse to give her Royal Assent to a law which has been passed by Parliament (The Royal Assent is the monarch’s signature symbolizing approval of a law) - the convention that the leader of the party which has won the general elections in the House of Commons automatically becomes the Prime Minister - the principle of Parliamentary Supremacy - the principle of government responsibility to Parliament. This means that ministers in the Government are collectively responsible to Parliament for their actions. It is surprising to notice that of all the constitutional rules, it is the conventions which are the most respected. These conventions are based on trust and mutual respect, and it is understandable that they make it easier to deal with some major issues and avoid potential problems. Since these rules are not formally recorded anywhere, they are not entrenched and can be amended or changed very easily by Parliament. 4 UNIT 1 – CONSTITUTION P. KAPITANIAK Judges, lawyers, and law professors also contribute to the body of legal theory known as jurisprudence. Two constitutional experts, Walter Bageot and A.V. Dicey, also contributed to the sources of British constitutional law. They emphasized two basic principles of the British Constitution: The Supremacy of Parliament and the Rule of Law. We are already familiar with the concept of parliamentary supremacy which will be further developed below. The Rule of Law establishes the absolute predominance of regular law, so that the government has no arbitrary authority over any citizen. Everybody, including every official, is subject to the ordinary law administered by the ordinary courts. A citizen’s personal freedoms are formulated and protected by the ordinary law rather than by abstract constitutional declarations. This will be developed in more detail in the chapters devoted to English law. In order to come to terms with European criteria, Tony Blair’s Government launched a series of constitutional reforms which aimed at overhauling the British political institutions. One of the reforms proposed was to draft a written constitution but the question remains in debate and nothing concrete has yet been done about it.