Transformation of Democracy in the UK - Essay Example

?“The United Kingdom Constitution is Underpinned by Strong, Clear Principles which Serve to Uphold Democracy” – Discuss Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 British Constitution 3 Transformation of Democracy in the UK 4 Parliamentary Sovereignty 5 Case of Jackson vs. Attorney General 5 The Rule of Law 6 Significance of Rule of Law for Upholding Democracy in the UK 7 The Judiciary and Statutory Interpretation 7 Significance of Statutory Interpretation 8 Significance of Judiciary Interpretation 8 Central Government and Ministerial Responsibility 9 Conclusion 10 References 12 Bibliography 17 Introduction The constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom primarily underpin the functionalities of the nation. The characteristics of the associations among the government and the residents, the trustworthiness of country’s establishments and the rights and the duties of people define the strengths of democracy. The constitution of the UK has developed progressively to renovate the association between the government and the residents, and to react with the challenges of globalisation as well as the other social aspects. In order to uphold the democracy, there is need for shaping new relationships and instigating drive towards new constitutional reimbursements, which commend parliament and people with more authority and right1. British Constitution Constitution can systematise, allocate and control the authority of state. It sets forth the state structure, state foundations, and ethics governing the state relations. Unlike other countries, the constitution of the UK has no single legal documents which sets out the central regulations and delineate the functions of the state. The British constitution has evolved from extensive time period and from several sources2. Maintaining democracy requires several modifications in constitution. Over the past few eras, the government has followed policies on decentralisation of the UK. The modifications have transformed the constitutional setting of the country. There are arguments which call for more fundamental changes and support additional legitimate changes which can weaken the administrative power and strengthen democracy through direct resident participation in decision making. But it is unclear that constitutional changes would inevitably generate a democratic recovery3. The strengths of constitution in the UK disembark from the Crown and reside with the government and parliament. People of the UK hardly have the likelihood or the opportunity to be involved in the official political process. The major aspect of the UK constitution is composition of arbitrary, infinite and inexplicable authority, and majority of these powers originate from the Crown and are implemented by the government and the Queen. The Queen herself possesses four constitutional authorities such as the right to assign Prime Minister, the right to disband parliament, the authority to discharge the administration, and the power to deny imperial ascension to regulation approved by the parliament. But in recent years, application of many of those authorities has proved to be highly provocative. For instance, in the year 2003, Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister of the UK, had used his authority to announce war to battle with Iraq on fabricated information and without prior authorisation of parliament4. Transformation of Democracy in the UK It had been observed that several western European nations perceived increasing attention for intensifying citizens’ involvement and encouragement in strategy decisions. The UK has certain democratic form which essentially authorise the majoritarian character of British democracy. The regional Assemblies Act passed in 2003 had made the UK less centralised and more decentralised. The UK has developed its own democratic tradition and carefully added components from other democratic models5. Parliamentary Sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty is the code of the constitution of the UK. It provides the parliament with the decisive legal control to develop law6. Parliamentary sovereignty is the fundamental instruction of the constitution. There are three codes of parliamentary sovereignty which are: Parliament can develop any law No other bodies can outweigh or conceal parliament’s law, and A legal act of the parliament cannot be interrogated by the Supreme Court i.e. the parliament is the ultimate legislator7 Case of Jackson vs. Attorney General The sovereignty of parliament has been interrogated by many acts due to its nature as it can harm the dominance of the country. It had been argued that traditional view of Parliament levies bureaucratic limitations on itself as legislators must be founded and controlled by legal instructions8. One such example of parliament’s illogical spot was uncovered in Jackson vs. Attorney General Case9. The case was based on parliament’s act to prohibit the fox hunting. The case was challenged parliament by making unlawful to hunt wild animals with some exceptions. In the British Constitution this case has gained much significance due to numerous verdicts which deliberate the association between parliamentary supremacy and commandment inside British constitution10. The British Constitution was formed around the knowledge of governmental accountability because a strong parliament can certify both responsible and liable ministers along with maintain powerful and stable government8. The Rule of Law The rule of law is the other aspect of the UK Constitution. The freedom of people is influenced by the rule of law and its success hinges on the role of court-martial by adjudicators and objectivity of courts. Besides, the perquisite order also determines the success of rule of law. Without a strong rule of law, fortified by sovereign courts, the rights and the dignities of people cannot be maintained11. In the UK, rule of law was established on the basis of subjective power. Albert Venn Dicey, a British jurist and legitimate philosopher had framed the concept of rule of law. According to him, the British constitutional law contains three principles which are: Justice should be accomplished through recognised principles and there are no place for uncertainty No person should worry physically or through grudging from property except breaking of law The rights of individuals should run from customs and civilisations of people acknowledged by the courts in the government of justice12 Significance of Rule of Law for Upholding Democracy in the UK Democratic supremacy is concerned with the determination of people and allows them to live with self-esteem and liberty. Democracy in any country necessitates a rule of law structure to manage the communication and co-existence of every resident. The rule of law also generates the basic environments where people can follow their own subjective development13. Rule of law is considered as one of the most crucial pillars of the UK Constitution on which democracy depends. A true rule of law can ensure fair political rights, civil liberties, and mechanism for accountability which in turn affirm the political equality of every civilian and constrain potential abuses of state power14. The Judiciary and Statutory Interpretation The rules of law will be worthless if there is no apt authority to implement them or interpret them for the public. Regardless of better performance of constitution; without a strong judicial branch the democracy of people cannot be achieved. The constitution communicates the standards and the advices to the public administrators regarding the rules and the regulations, yet judiciary plays a superior part in the democratic system of the UK with respect to statutory interpretation. The reason is that, court and other divisions are destined by the constitution and should interpret when argument arises. The unique capability and right of judiciary interpretation have been extensively acknowledged as a perpetual and crucial feature of the UK constitutional system. Therefore, judicial evaluation can demonstrate the variation of constitutional system to the organisational code of instructions and equilibriums, and to the constitution’s purposes of founding integrity and fortifying freedom of people15. Significance of Statutory Interpretation The legal system of the UK clasps with both, typical democracy and common law customs, where statutory interpretation is entrenched among these two paradigms. Statutes illustrate democracy’s idea of general sovereignty, beneath which an elected parliament develops laws as representative of public. Statues can generate challenges for adjudicators who are saturated in common law customs of constancy, permanency, and rationality that derive from slow and incremental development of law16. Significance of Judiciary Interpretation The judiciary interpretation tells how legislation should relate in certain cases, as there are no regulations that can explicitly and precisely discourse all problems. Legislations generate several doubts due to imperfect words, inappropriate codes and thus they are at times unclear and require modifications from time to time. Unanticipated circumstances are predictable in any case and any new technique and principle makes implementation of existing laws more challenging. This requires statutory interpretation in order to regulate how a statue will be imposed to the public. Therefore, statutory interpretation fits in the existing tradition of the UK democracy. In the democracy of the UK, the activities of people are not administered by the rulers, but by the rule of law. The rule of law is genuine as it is developed by voted legislatures of citizens through democratic procedure. The rule of law is reasonable and well-organized because it is delivered in the forms of writings which are permanent and constant, and is applied to everyone beneath the administration of the courts on a similar fashion. Ultimately courts are well positioned to oversee the implementation of law because of their independent nature and explanatory knowledge. All these aspects help to provide a clear principle and assist in supporting democracy17. Central Government and Ministerial Responsibility In the democracy of the UK, the central government is run by the Prime Minister who selects all other ministers. The Prime Minister and other high-ranking ministers have their place in the ultimate decision board known as the Cabinet. Central government of the UK have the major responsibility of operating the country and they are in charge of developing and implementing strategy. Central government also crafts laws as well as provides financial support for country’s expenditure. There are several crucial divisions under central government and they play significant part in the UK18. Ministerial responsibility is the centre of the UK Constitution to preserve democracy. Ministers act as a channel between the people’s government as well as the Crown. For every activity in Cabinet, a minister is responsible in front of the parliament19. The ministerial responsibility is different from collective responsibility which describes that associates of Cabinet should support their combined decisions in public i.e. it requires election of the people. On the other hand, in ministerial responsibility, the minister is likely to take the liability for any kind of waste, dishonesty or other misconduct that happened inside a ministry, even if the minister is unaware about those activities20. Conclusion The major fault that has been found in the UK Constitution is that there is no clear declaration of essential principles. In nations with clear written principles, the laws are generally more difficult to be modified. The most significant principles of the UK Constitution are parliamentary sovereignty and rule of law21. Though it is argued that the UK should have written constitution where rights of people can be supported legally and will provide a clearer outline of the rights of the UK citizens, counter arguments also say that citizens do not desire that their rights are exposed to a single document which describes what need to be done and what need not be done. Besides, it will be much difficult as well as time intensive method to summarise the complex constitution in single article22. The constitution of the UK is very flexible to be changed, and it can help the UK to cope up with any societal fluctuations and therefore serves better towards democracy. The current constitutional system has effectively functioned for several eras and it has successfully maintained strong government in the UK. References Anthony King, The British Constitution. (Oxford University Press, 2009). Crown, ‘The Governance of Britain’ [2007] (Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor) accessed 27 December 2011. Chris Bryant MP, ‘Towards A New Constitutional Settlement’ [2007] (The Smith Institute) accessed 27 December 2011. David E. Smith, ‘Clarifying The Doctrine Of Ministerial Responsibility As It Applies To The Government and Parliament of Canada’ (2005) 1 Parliament, Ministers And Deputy Ministers 101, 143 Frank Hendriks and Ank Michels, ‘Deepening The Majoritarian/Non-Majoritarian Distinction’ [2010] (Democracy Transformed? Reforms in Britain and The Netherlands) accessed 27 December 2011. Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan and Christopher H. Schroeder, Keeping Faith with the Constitution. (Oxford University Press, 2010). GIZ, ‘Democracy and the Rule of Law’ [2011] (Good Governance) accessed 27 December 2011. Hhistorylearningsite, ‘The Rule of Law’ [2011] (The British Constitution) accessed 27 December 2011. Insite Law magazine, ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’ [2011] (Constitutional) accessed 27 December 2011. Karen M and Gebbia Pinetti, ‘Statutory Interpretation, Democratic Legitimacy and Legal – System Values’ (1997) 21(233) Seton Hall Legislative Journal 233, 346 Lincolnshire, ‘Central Government’ [2011] (Local Democracy) accessed 27 December 2011. Legal Advice, ‘Comparative Analysis of Rule of Law in India & UK’ [2010] (Constitutional Law) accessed 27 December 2011. Matthew Flinders, ‘Shifting the Balance? Parliament, the Executive and the British Constitution’ (2002) 50 PS 23, 42 O'Donnell & Guillermo A, “Why the Rule of Law Matters’ (2004) 15(4) Journal of Democracy 32, 46 Pavlos Eleftheriadis, ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Constitution’ (2009) 22 (2) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 1, 24 Parliament UK, ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’ [No Date] (Site-Information) accessed 27 December 2011. Ruth Sullivan, ‘The Plain Meaning Rule and Other Ways to Cheat at Statutory Interpretation’ [No Date] (University of Ottawa) accessed 27 December 2011. R. Clements and J. Kay, The Nature and Sources of Constitutional Law. (Oxford University Press, 2006). Republic, ‘The British Constitution’ [No Date] (Campaigning For A Democratic Alternative To The Monarchy) accessed 27 December 2011. Thomson Reuters, ‘What is the UK constitution?’ [2011] (FindLaw UK) accessed 27 December 2011. Tom Mullen, ‘Jackson v Attorney General: Questioning Sovereignty’ (2006) 27(1) LS 1, 25 University College London, ‘What Is The UK Constitution?’ [2011] (UCL Constitution Unit) accessed 27 December 2011. Bibliography Directgov, ‘Devolved Government in the UK’ [2011] (Government, Citizens and Rights) accessed 27 December 2011. Louis W Goodman, ‘Democracy, Sovereignty, and Intervention’ (1993) 9(1) AM. U. J. INT'L L & POL'Y 27 – 32 Oonagh Gay and Thomas Powell, ‘The Collective Responsibility of Ministers: An Outline of the Issues’ [2004] (House of Commons Library) Read More