Учебный год 22-23 / essey2

Romodanova Olga

Group 202

UK Constitution

1. The development of the UK Constitution

2. The structure of the UK Constitution

3. Constitutionalism

4. The separation of powers in the UK

5. The rule of law

The aim of my essay is to cover all the issues relating to UK Constitution. To reach this goal I’d like to deal with following topics: the development and the structure of the UK Constitution and constitutionalism. Also I’ll analyze the separation of powers in the UK and the rule of law in context of the UK Constitution.

To begin with, the UK constitution dates from the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 it draws its main principles and institutions from medieval times or even earlier. Some principles even nowadays originate from the Bill of Rights 1689. It limited power of monarch with the parliament, although, in 1688 Parliament was not a democratic body in the modern sense, the basic legal framework was laid down: Crown, House of Lords, and House of Commons. We all know that British don’t have written constitution, but there was really short period in history after the Civil War when Oliver Cromwell created a written constitution. It was ineffective, so it was expunged from the official records.

Although, British constitution is unwritten and doesn’t have grand design, I’ll try to describe it. For example, Wolfe-Phillips describes the UK Constitution as an ideal structure with a revered head of state insulated from politics, a government led by a prime minister with a parliamentary majority produced in a free and fair election by a mature electorate. But in the same time Wolfe-Phillips criticizes the reality and says that ideal is only an ideal. If we look from other side, some people think that all power is in the hands of establishment. There is very interesting Dicey`s position on the structure of the Constitution. Dicey, writing from the point of view of the lawyer, and also as a champion of private property rights, regarded the primary characteristics of the UK Constitution as 1) the rule of law; 2) parliamentary supremacy; 3) the distinction between conventions and law.

Speaking about constitutionalism, I should say that constitutionalism is a government in which power is distributed and limited by a system of laws that must be obeyed by the rulers. The main idea of it is that governmental powers are not impartial in making laws. There are three ways of restriction power:

1. By creating substantive principles of justice, and individual rights policed by courts that are independent of the government, like in USA. But the most obvious objection is that it gives too much power to unelected judges.

2. The doctrine of the separation of powers in various ways.

3. By procedural restraints requiring the exercise of power.

Any constitution might adopt all, like in USA, or any, like in UK, combination of these devices which are of course interrelated.

The separation of powers in the UK is closely related to constitutionalism. The separation of powers is the doctrine that the liberty of the individuals is secure only if the three primary functions of the state are exercised by distinct and independent branches. On this occasion Blackstone wrote that all the parts of English government has a mutual check upon each other. In the legislation the people are a check on the nobility and the nobility is a check upon the people, while the king is a check upon both. Blackstone considered that Parliament was legally unlimited but it functioned within the common law. Some modern commentators said that the centre of powers shifts to the executive brunch.

Dicey's concept implies of an independent judiciary is a safeguard against both Parliament and the executive. Dicey lights three elements of rule of law:

1. No crime – no punishment

2. Everyone is subject to law

3. People are protected by judicial decisions

The following that is worth to mention is the rule of law. The rule of law is the principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced. The ideas of the rule of law and the separation of powers are deeply embedded in European political culture. These notions were described by Aristotle, Bracton and many others. The mythology of the rule of law is basic to English political culture. It goes back to the Anglo-Saxon notion of a compact between the ruler and the ruled under which obedience to the king was conditional upon the king respecting the law. Magna Carta (1215) although no longer in force symbolises this, notably in the principle of due process in independent courts and, in the subject's right to refuse financial support to a king who violates the law. The rule of law also protected individual rights imagined as being grounded in ancient common law tradition.

According to Dicey the rule of law had three elements.

First that there should be no sanction without breach, meaning that nobody should be punished by the state unless they had broken a law. Secondly, that one law should govern everyone, including both ordinary citizens and state officials. Thirdly, that the rights of the individual were not secured by a written constitution, but by the decisions of judges in ordinary law.

To sum up the rule of law can defined as the doctrine that every person is subject to the ordinary law within the jurisdiction; the restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to well-defined and established laws.

Thus the UK Constitution has a very interesting and rich political and legal history, plays a great role in the modern state system of the UK and continues to develop.