Constitution

UK constitution. Nature: The UK constitution is completely uncodified, which means that it has many sources, like Acts of Parliament and common law (from judges). Changes: Because of its uncodified nature, it is very easy to change the UK constitution and it happens all the time. Major changes since 1997 include the introduction of devolution, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Supreme Court. Key principles: The UK constitution has several principles underpinning it; arguably the three most important are: Parliamentary sovereignty: Parliamentary sovereignty means that the UK Parliament can make or unmake any law that it wants and nobody can override it. However, in R (Factortame Ltd) v Transport Secretary (1990), when faced with an Act of Parliament which contradicted EU law, the House of Lords Appellate Committee said that it was the Act of Parliament which had to give way and, in R (Jackson) v Attorney General (2005), a minority of ‘law lords’ discussed when parliamentary sovereignty could be ignored; Parliamentary accountability: Parliamentary accountability simply means that the UK Government is accountable to the UK Parliament for what it does; Rule of law: The rule of law is more complex than this, but it can be summed up in the words of Aristotle: “it is more choiceworthy… to have law rule than any one of the citizens”.
The monarch. Why is Charles III King? Charles III is not King because of the “divine right of kings”, but because the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701, which still forms the basis of the UK’s line of succession today. The Act of Settlement 1701 followed the ‘Glorious Revolution’ and Bill of Rights 1689, which cemented parliamentary sovereignty over absolute monarchy; MPs became able to pick their monarch and set out what they can and cannot do. Today, Charles III is not just King of the United Kingdom, but King of 14 other Commonwealth Realms (not to be confused with the Commonwealth) too. What ceremonial duties does the monarch have? Ceremonially, the monarch carries out hundreds of public engagements each year, as do other royal family members. Perhaps the monarch’s most visible ceremonial duty, however, is to deliver an address at 3pm every Christmas day. What official duties does the monarch have? Officially, the monarch’s duties include: appointing the Prime Minister, dissolving the UK Parliament and triggering a general election and granting Royal Assent to bills. Constitutionally, the key rule is that the monarch only acts on the advice of UK Government ministers (this makes their job sound, in theory, very easy!) However, the monarch does have certain (often quite difficult to define) reserve powers which they can exercise alone, like refusing a Prime Minister’s request to dissolve the UK Parliament under certain circumstances.