Constitutional Law Essay

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Constitutional Law
Revision Essay
Question:
1) “It is true to state that the United Kingdom does not have a constitution”.

Intro:
In this essay I am going to question whether it is correct to say that the United Kingdom does not have a constitution. To establish whether the United Kingdom (UK) does have a constitution or not, I must firstly define the meaning of the term 'constitution'. On oxforddictionaries.com the term constitution is defined as being '. A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organisation is acknowledged to be governed.’ However, to question whether the UK has a constitution, perhaps its best to ask what a constitution is? Typically it would be said that there are two meanings, first that the constitution of a state is the 'written document which outlines the powers of its important national institution' and secondly that there is no textual document, but existing legislation that has somewhat constitutional character.

The majority of developed countries have written constitutions such as the United States of America who have the 'United States Constitution 1787'. However, countries such as New Zealand, Israel and the UK do not have such a document which is one of the factors leading to the belief that the UK does not have a constitution. Yet the constitution of the UK can be found, for example it exists in various acts of parliament such as the Bill of Rights Act 1688 which 'established the illegality of levying taxation without the consent of parliament and curtailed the powers of the crown' , this bill ties together the institutions of the government and individual citizens by defining the relationship between parliament and the crown. This links in with the definition of a constitution as the bill is textual legislation which could suggest that perhaps the UK's constitution is made up of written and unwritten sources, the unwritten convention being the royal assent having to be given on legislation proposed by parliament.

Furthermore, article 16 of the (French) Declaration of the Rights of Man 1789 states that 'a society where rights are not secured or the separation of powers established has no constitution' , this infers that the UK does have a constitution as it has the separation of powers between the Houses of Parliament, the Monarch and the Judiciary. Additionally, this links in with the definition of a constitution as these separations of powers are acknowledged principles as to how the state is to be governed.

The rule of law is further support to suggest that the UK does have a constitution. Historically it was phrase used with reference to 'a belief in the existence of law possessing higher authority ' whether divine or natural ' than that of the law promulgated by human rulers which imposed limits on their powers.' To me this implies similar meaning as that of the definition of a constitution as it is implicitly stating that everyone is bound by the same laws, government and civilians alike, thus being acknowledgement of being governed. My opinion too, can be backed up by the rule of law as 'expounded by Dicey which has significantly influenced the UK constitution whom also said that government and citizen alike should be restricted by the same definite rules of law.'

Nevertheless, countries such as the United States need a special procedure to change any of their constitutional laws meaning it is hard for this to happen, whereas the UK does not need any special procedure to change its 'constitutional' laws. This can be done by judicial decisions and changing conventional practices which already
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