Constitution

Question 1

What is a constitution?

Answer 1

A legal framework detailing the composition and responsibilities of the institutions of government and describing their relationship both with each other and with the country’s citizens.

Question 2

Explain the term ‘constitutional government’,

Answer 2

Government that functions according to rules laid down in a constitution. It therefore implies the operation of constraints on the exercise of power.

Question 3

Political behaviour that is in accordance with accepted rules and norms is constitutional. True or false?

Answer 3

True.

Question 4

What is meant by ‘unconstitutional’?

Answer 4

Falling outside the accepted rules and norms of the political system.

Question 5

What is a codified constitution?

Answer 5

This is when the laws, rules and principles specifying how a state is to be governed are set out in a single, legally entrenched constitutional’ document.

Question 6

What is an uncodified constitution?

Answer 6

This is when the taws, rules and principles specifying how a state is to be governed are not set out in a single, legally entrenched document but are found in a variety of sources, such as statute law and EU law.

Question 7

Should the IJK have a codified constitution?

Answer 7

Yes. Provides greater clarity on what is or is not constitutional, Citizens’ rights better protected. No. Would end flexibility of existing uncodified constitution. Difficult to amend. Too much power to judges.

Question 8

Conventions and common law are sources of the UK constitution. True or false?

Answer 8

True.

Question 9

Name three other sources of the UK constitution.

Answer 9

Statute law: authoritative works; European Union law.

Question 10

Give two examples of Conventions,

Answer 10

The monarch having to assent to Acts of Parliament; the doctrine of Collective ministerial responsibility.

Question 11

What are authoritative works?

Answer 11

Legal and political texts that have become accepted as works of authority on the UK constitution, e.g. A. V, Dicey, An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution.

Question 12

Membership of the European Union (EU) is a key characteristic of the constitution, True or false?

Answer 12

True.

Question 13

List four key principles of the constitution.

Answer 13

Parliamentary sovereignty; the rule of law; the unitary state; parliamentary government under a constitutional monarch

Question 14

What is parliamentary sovereignty?

Answer 14

The central doctrine of the constitution which States that Parliament is the supreme law-making body in the country, Parliament cannot bind future parliaments in decision making. Its decisions cannot be overturned by any higher authority.

Question 15

Define the rule of law.

Answer 15

A system of rule in which the relationship between the state and the individual is governed by law, protecting the individual from arbitrary state action.

Question 16

What is a unitary state?

Answer 16

A political system in which the central authority holds governmental power exclusively, with no autonomous powers residing in any other body.

Question 17

What is parliamentary government?

Answer 17

A political system in which government takes place through parliament, blurring the boundaries between the executive and legislative branches.

Question 18

Define constitutional monarchy.

Answer 18

A political system in which the monarch is the formal head of state, but the monarch’s legal powers are exercised by government ministers.

Question 19

Outline one constitutional implication of UK membership of the EU.

Answer 19

The UK courts apply EU law directly, and where questions of interpretation of EU law arise, they are referred to the European Court of Justice.

Question 20

Identify a way in Which UK membership of the ELI can be said to have undermined parliamentary sovereignty.

Answer 20

The European Communities Act (1972) gave European Community (later European Union) law precedence over UK statute law when the two conflicted,

Question 21

Has the programme of devolution since 1997 undermined the unitary state?

Answer 21

No. The UK may appear to be moving towards a more federal arrangement, but power has simply been devolved rather than transferred. All recent changes can be reversed by Act of Parliament, in theory at least. Some refer to this as quasi-federalism.

Question 22

To what extent can anti-terrorist legislation be seen as limiting the rule of law?

Answer 22

Treatment of terrorist suspects under such legislation undermines some elements of the rule of law identified by Dicey. Those imprisoned in the UK under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001) were effectively being punished without trial.

Question 23

Outline two strengths of the UK constitution.

Answer 23

The rule of law protects the rights of citizens. The government is responsible – it is accountable to Parliament and the electorate.

Question 24

How is government accountable?

Answer 24

It is answerable in Parliament for its actions and an unpopular government is likely to lose the next general election.

Question 25

Outline two weaknesses of the constitution.

Answer 25

Constitutional rules and conventions are unclear and can be overridden because the UK constitution is uncodified. Pre-democratic elements survive.

Question 26

Which pre-democratic elements of the constitution survive?

Answer 26

An unelected House of Lords and a hereditary monarchy,

Question 27

What did Brown propose in ‘The Governance of Britain’ Green Paper?

Answer 27

Four key objectives: limiting powers of the executive, making the executive more accountable, reinvigorating democracy and improving the relationship between the citizen and the state.

Question 28

What did Brown achieve as a constitutional reformer?

Answer 28

Very little. Blown off course by economic crisis and MPs’ expenses scandal, after expenses scandal reform revisited but then came the 2010 genera’ election.

Question 29

Did Labour’s reforms (1997-2010) result in a new constitutional settlement?

Answer 29

Yes. Most extensive series of reforms in modern times. No. Unfinished and no overarching vision.

Question 30

What constitutional reforms did Labour propose in its 2010 manifesto?

Answer 30

Referendum on elected second chamber; fixed-term parliaments; recall of MPs; referendum on alternative vote; all-party commission on a written constitution.

Question 31

What constitutional reforms did the Conservatives propose in their 2010 manifesto?

Answer 31

Mainly elected Lords; recall of MPs; cut number of MPs; equalise constituency sizes; directly elected police chiefs.

Question 32

What constitutional reforms did the Lib Dems include in their 2010 manifesto?

Answer 32

Fully elected Lords; referendum on ST V for general elections; cut number of MPs by 150; codified constitution subject to approval in a referendum.