StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Public Law in the UK - Assignment Example

Cite this document
Summary
The study “Public Law in the UK” analyzes two basic principles to the British Constitution: The Rule of Law and the Supremacy of Parliament. The development of U.K’s uncodified constitution has been quite haphazard, taking inputs from experts like Walter Bagehot and A.V Dicey…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.9% of users find it useful
Public Law in the UK
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Public Law in the UK"

Topic: Public Law It has been argued that the UK does not have a codified constitution, because its population lacks interest in such a radical constitutional reform. But it has also been argued that the UK population lacks interest in constitutional matters because it does not have a codified constitution. To what extent does the evidence suggest that these propositions are valid And, in your scholarly opinion which of the two has more weight The British Constitution is uncodified and can be found in a variety of documents. Advocates of this form of constitution believe that the uncodified system encourages flexibility and changes can be made easily. The advocates of a written constitution argue that if it's a written document, every citizen will have access to it instead of only constitutional experts who can interpret it to suit their own convenience . There are two basic principles to the British Constitution: The Rule of Law and the Supremacy of Parliament. The development of U.K's uncodified constitution has been quite haphazard , taking inputs from experts like Walter Bagehot and A.V Dicey, Magna Carta, Act of Settlement of 1701, common law, case law, historical documents, Acts of Parliament and European legislation. There are various opinions on why the U.K does not have a written constitution. Some observers feel that the U.K does not have a codified constitution because it has been politically stable for too long. The royal families in other European countries like France and Germany have had to step down and draw up constitutions as a result of revolt by the masses. In contrast, Great Britain never faced any revolt or rebellion against the crown during the 19th century. Instead, it has transformed itself into democracy over the years. [Nigel Morris,2008] In the process of drafting a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities outlining citizens' rights and codifying the political system last year, Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice remarked that "The constitution of the United Kingdom exists in hearts and minds and habits as much as it does in law." This statement provides a good enough reason as to why there is no codified constitution on the U.K. He also points out that the passing of this Bill could bring U.K in line with the most progressive democracies in the world. [Nigel Morris,2008]. Morris however argues in favour of a written constitution stating that British democracy is in a crisis as citizens eye politicians with cynicism and the turnout in general elections has been falling over the years. This could be due to a lack of interest on the part of citizens as there is no written code of law stating their rights and responsibilities. The true essence of a democracy is the manner in which its elections are held. Since democracy is the rule by representatives of the people, a larger voter turnout could mean an active interest on the part of citizens in the affairs of the State. An alarming trend has been observed in the turnout in elections in Britain in recent times. Each time, the number of voters keeps decreasing from the previous one. Other than the general elections in 2001, where the turnout was 59.2%, only a miserable 23% of the population of U.K voted in the European elections in 1999.This was the lowest turnout among all European countries. The following table shows the voter turnout over time in British elections. While the turnout in local elections saw regular fluctuations between 1979 to 1992, it seemed to follow a downtrend from 1992 onwards. The General Elections saw a marginal decline in turnout from 1979 to 1983 , though it was a respectable 75% till 1992, after which it appears to have declined to 70% in 1997 and crashed to below 60% in 2001.Similarly, while the turnout in bye-elctions was almost 55% in 1979, it had declined to almost 40% in 2001.The European elections saw the response improving from around 30% in 1979 to 38% in1992 and falling to around 23% in 2001. The results show a steady decline in the participation of citizens in the electoral process in recent times. Turnout over time of British elections. Source: Professor Thrasher, University of Plymouth On the eve of the General elections in 2001, BBC polled a few people who had decided not to vote . While 77% said there was no point in voting because it would not change a thing, 65% said they did not trust politicians. More than 50% said they were sure of the results as the Labour Party would win.[Kitcat,2005].Faced with low voter turnout in The General Elections in 2001, the Commons Public Administration Select Committee blamed the Government for being 'extremely complacent' about the civic crisis of voter apathy.[Kitcat,2005]. Anthony King, a Professor at Essex argued that falling voter rate was actually a sign of a good democracy. He argued that when extremes of party politics are absent and people are content, they would not go to vote. However, this has been contradicted in various MORI polls that reflected the citizens' dissatisfaction with various government policies [Kitcat,2005]. Professor Michael Thrasher from the University of Plymouth Elections Centre categorizes the reasons for citizens' lack of participation in the electoral process on the basis of resources, motivation and mobilization. He feels that voters might be under the impression that they do not have enough time or resources to analyze the agendas of the contending parties, lack civic or party obligation to vote and do not feel the need to bring about a change in society. Heath and Taylor (1999) attributed low voter turnout in the 1997 elections to increased working class and trade-union apathy. They felt there was lack of enthusiasm with the Labour Party. In my opinion, both the statements that the UK does not have a codified constitution, because its population lacks interest in such a radical constitutional reform and the UK population lacks interest in constitutional matters because it does not have a codified constitution hold good to some extent. While the above arguments and works demonstrate both sides of the argument, I personally feel that a codified constitution is always better than an uncodified one. It is not true that the population lacks interest in constitutional matters, on the contrary, it might certainly want to reform it, provided it knows of the procedures and steps involved in the same. A lowering voter turnout cannot be interpreted as an indicator of a happy and content population, on the contrary, it might indicate a lack of interest in the election process and a subsequent apathy towards constitutional reforms. While for the past few decades, the population might have been happy with the uncodified system, I feel it is time to have a written constitution. While the demand for a codified constitution might not be in the form a rising or a rebellion , people are slowly waking up to the need for one to prevent misuse of power by politicians. Citizens Charters are being formed, awareness about citizens' rights is being spread by NGOs and other organizations. Any change needs time for the results and repercussions to set in. Similarly, in this case, the country did not have a codified constitution all these years because its population lacked interest in such radical reform, but today, the population seems to be waking up and ready to pass Bills about Citizens Rights and Government's Responsibilities. References: 1. Morris, Nigel.The Big Question: Why doesn't the UK have a written constitution, and does it matter The Independent, 14th February, 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-big-question-why-doesnt-the-uk-have-a-written-constitution-and-does-it-matter-781975.html 2. Kitcat, Jason. TURNING ROUND TURNOUT Turnout - the reasons why it's falling and the potential solutions, December 2005. http://www.planet-thanet.fsnet.co.uk/nps/voter_turnout.htm 3. news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1641000/1641572.stm news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/newsid_1376000/1376575.stm news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/euros_99/news/newsid_368000/368908.stm news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_906000/906877.stm politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,640281,00.html www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4201622,00.html politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,640281,00.html www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2001/guardian-article-nov-2001.htm www.idea.int/voter_turnout/ http://www.gallup.com/ 4. About the Citizens' Convention Bill, Unlock Democracy, Charter 88. http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page_id=2033 5. Heath A & Taylor B (1999).New Sources of Abstention In G.Evans & P.Noris (eds) Critical Elections: British Parties and Voters in Long Term Perspective, pp.165-180,London,Sage Publications. 6. David Cutts et al. ,(2007).Voter Turnout in British South Asian Communities at the 2001 General Election. British Journal of Politics & International Relations. Volume 9 Issue 3, Pages 396 - 412 Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Public Law in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Public Law in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/law/1499340-british-constitution-college-essay
(Public Law in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
Public Law in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words. https://studentshare.org/law/1499340-british-constitution-college-essay.
“Public Law in the UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/law/1499340-british-constitution-college-essay.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Public Law in the UK

The Human Rights Act 1998 and Parliamentary Sovereignty

0 Therefore from Lord Hope's perspective, Parliamentary sovereignty has evolved with the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 and has not altered the uk's constitutional principles and values.... Lord Hope observed that: The rule of law enforced by the courts is the ultimate controlling factor on which our constitution is based....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Development of Environmental Management Systems

  Nationally in the uk, there are two main sources of modern environmental law, the 1974 Control of Pollution Act and the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.... This paper ''Environmental law'' tells that Environmental law builds on reform movements from the early part of the 20th Century, including consumer protection and industry regulation legislation that was enacted through the House of Commons in the protection of the public welfare and safety of workers....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Albert Venn Dicey and the Modern UK Constitution

The second proposition that Dicey advanced is relevant to the constitution of the uk since it paves way for the process of proper litigation.... Institution Tutor Albert Venn Dicey & the Modern UK Constitution Course/Number Date Department Introduction The rule of law in Britain has immensely benefited from Albert Venn Dicey (4th February 1835- 7th April 1922).... According to Anderson1, the magnitude of the first of the three postulations above is its allowance and recognition of the civil rights and freedoms and justice for all in the United Kingdom (uk)....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Public Law - Parliamentary Sovereignty of the UK

The Impacts of the Referendum Bill and the Scottish Independence Referendum on the Parliamentary Sovereignty of the uk Introduction Each democratic country uses its parliament as a symbol of democracy.... In Jackson v Attorney-General [2005] uk HL 56, Lord Steyns approved an argument put forward in 1935.... The EU Referendum Bill and Parliamentary Sovereignty of uk “The constitutional referendum is often conceptualised as the ultimate institutional expression of popular sovereignty'' (Daly, 2013)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Public Interest Defence in UK Copyright Law and the Impact of Ashdown v Telegraph Group

The European Convention on Human Rights became law in the United Kingdom with the Human Rights Act 1998.... Taking the above as precedent, the first time that the English courts "fully addressed the issue of the impact of the HRA on copyright law was in the case of Ashdown v Telegraph Group Lt, which involved important issues of freedom of expression of the press and the right of the public to receive information of legitimate public interest.... According to Guangyong, the last defence to copyright infringement is termed 'public interest', which is "a newer and less well-developed defence in the copyright field compared with others, whereby the work is deemed important for wider distribution and fair dealing is not applicable"....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Differences in the UK Constitution

Moreover, judicial independence under the uk Constitution is not exclusive of political interests.... One of the most important differences is that the uk Constitution is uncodified, while most other countries such as the United States, European and Asian countries have a formal Written Constitution that clearly lays out the principles upon which the nation is founded....
30 Pages (7500 words) Essay

Human rights campaign proposal and Rationale

Implicitly,… In this regard, this campaign proposes to engage in a publicity campaign aimed at heightening public awareness of the HRA, its history and its contributions to The campaign will focus on the various enumerated human rights included in the HRA and draw attention to the fact that the HRA guarantees the protection of those rights in a single document as opposed to an accumulation of years of judgments and various legislative provisions that are open to interpretation....
16 Pages (4000 words) Essay

The Development of Environmental Management Systems

Nationally in the uk, there are two main sources of modern environmental law, the 1974 Control of Pollution Act and the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.... The goal of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the rise of environmental law and the development of environmental auditing.... hellip; Environmental law builds on reform movements from the early part of the 20th Century, including consumer protection and industry regulation legislation that was enacted through the House of Commons in the protection of the public welfare and safety of workers....
6 Pages (1500 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us