Public Law - Characteristics of the UK constitution revision notes (semester 1)

Characteristics of the UK constitution


CHARACTERISTICS OF THE UK CONSTITUTION

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE  formal monarchy
UK CONSTITUTION  parliamentary democracy
 uncodified
 not entrenched – rules of constitution are not
legally protected from change
 unitary state (?)

FORMAL MONARCHY The king if the formal head of state who has royal
prerogative powers

Prime minister as the active head of government has an
active role to make decisions and gives advice to the
monarch about their powers

DEBATE/CHALLENGE: PROROGATION SCANDAL

PARLIAMENTARY The PM is not directly elected
DEMOCRACY  the monarch appoints leader of the largest party
with the majority in elected house of commons
power exercised by democratic office holders
 parliament is central institution of system
 monarch has power to ‘choose’ PM but there are
rules to who they must choose

four central constitutional institutions are: government,
parliament, courts, and the crown

DEBATE/CHALLENGE: PROROGATION SCANDAL

UNCODIFIED Codified – whether rules are brought together in a single
document, not if it is written

There is no single constitutional text/instrument but
there is a lot ‘written’
 the UK’s constitution is written but not brought
all together in one single document

C REFORM POST BREXIT

NOT ENTRENCHED The UK constitution is readily changeable by an act of
parliament (like other areas of law) as there is no special
legal amendment process which is connected to the fact
that the constitution is uncodified

This is the opposite in countries with a codified