British Constitution - Essay Example

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Summary

According to the American Heritage dictionary, a Constitution is a set of laws and principles that make up a system that allows the definition of nature of a government or institution and states its functions and limits. A constitution forms the fundamental basis of governance…

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Subject: Law
Type: Essay
Level: Undergraduate
Pages: 4 (1000 words)
Downloads: 2
Author: ashleighoconner

Extract of sample "British Constitution"

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The Blacks Law Dictionary is particularly elaborate giving the specifics of a constitution. According to the Blacks Law Dictionary, definition of constitution the British constitution applies to this definition to some smaller extent. Most nations have written constitutions, such as constitutions of most modern democracies. The constitution of Britain, by contrast, is unwritten or uncodified. Its traditions are informal and based on several different laws. Unlike other democracies, Britain has no official document that explains the governance of the nation.

The lack of a written document links to the British history. Britain never experienced a revolution like other countries, and never had any regime change. Because of this, their constitution continued to evolve for such a long time and this combined with the relative stability of Britain, development of a constitution never occurred. Experts pertaining to constitution usually refer to several laws, treaties and conventions, which they compile to make up a constitution. The several compilations that make up a constitution include Acts of Parliament, Treaties, conventions, Royal prerogative, works of authority, European Union law and the Common law.

Their constitution is by standards less democratic, not intelligible and not accountable enough to govern a country in the modern democratic world (KING, 2009). Unlike constitutions of most democracies that dictate distribution of power to various organs, in Britain such power resides in the arms of the crown. Power that is unlimited and unaccountable derives from the crown where the queen exercises some of it and most of it by the government. The queen exercises four constitutional powers. These are only limited to her, and nobody can exercise them on behalf of her.

They include the power to chose and appoint the countries prime minister, the power to dissolve a sitting parliament, dismissal of government and the power to withhold royal assent to legislation

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