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Philip Norton Describes the UK's Constitution
Philip Norton Describes the UK's Constitution
The United Kingdom is distinctive for having an uncodified constitution.
The United Kingdom is distinctive for having an uncodified constitution.
The laws, rules and customs determining how it is to be governed are not drawn up in a single document. This is a distinction it shares with only two other nations: Israel and New Zealand. Other states have drawn up codified documents as a consequence of being newly formed or having to start afresh, having broken away from a colonising power or having been defeated in battle. Britain has not suffered a distinctive constitutional break since the seventeenth century. An attempt to impose a codified, or ‘written’, constitution during the period of the Protectorate was abandoned with the resto ration of the monarchy in 1660. When James II fled the country in 1688, he was deemed to have abdicated, and those responsible for inviting his daughter and son-in law, Mary and William of Orange, to assume the throne were keen to stress continuity in the nation’s constitutional arrangements. The nation’s constitutional foundations thus pre-date the creation, starting with the USA in the eighteenth century, of formal codified constitutions.
The nation's constitution has unique aspects. Many nations have rigid constitutions. These require special steps for changes. For example, a supermajority vote or public approval. In the UK, laws changing the constitution use the same process. This applies to acts like the Human Rights Act 1998. It's the same process as minor criminal laws.
The UK's basic government structure is also distinct. It features a type of parliamentary rule. Some systems are presidential. Here, the leader and law-makers are chosen separately. They do not rely on each other for power. In a parliamentary system, the leader and ministers come from the law-makers. They are not chosen apart from the legislature. Their power depends on the legislature's trust.
There are two main kinds of parliamentary government. One is the Westminster model. The other is the continental model. Westminster focuses on one party winning. This often uses a first-past-the-post election system. Two main parties compete for total victory. Continental systems favour consensus. They often use coalition governments. These form from proportional representation elections. The Westminster style has spread to Commonwealth nations. Some have changed it. New Zealand, for instance, now uses proportional representation.
Hybrid systems also exist. These mix presidential and parliamentary features. A president may be directly elected. A Prime Minister leads a government formed by the legislature. France uses a hybrid system. Several democracies in central and eastern Europe have adopted them too.
Comparison: UK and US Constitutions
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