The need for a written constitution in the UK

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Kelly Hazell                PI: U5281278

W201, TMA 01

(Word count – 1096)

In the UK there is no written constitution, so the term may be defined to embody a set of standards surrounding the governing power. It characterizes the means by which power is concentrated and controlled, in order to be legitimately effective within a state. One of its main functions is to allocate powers between the three branches of government; the executive, legislature and judiciary and impose any necessary checks and balances. It also defines basic values that are considered important to society, and individual human rights.  The UK is one of only three countries that have an unwritten constitution, largely due to historical circumstances that have seen no dramatic changes in political power requiring a written constitution. Instead, it is to be found within ordinary legal sources, both statute and common law amongst other sources.

Acts of Parliament may have constitutional content, in that they deal with aspects of law which are constitutional, but they are passed by the same procedures as any other statute and are significantly labelled. Statutes regarded as constitutional date back to the Magna Carta in 1215, which largely symbolizes the principles by which the government must be conducted according to law, with the consent of those that are governed. More recently the Human Rights Act in 1998 incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, giving UK citizens a weakly formed Bill of Rights. Many other concepts of fundamental individual rights have been introduced by European Community law, providing constitutional rights by way of the European Community Act 1972.

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Common law may also provide sources of constitution, as the doctrine of precedent allows decisive principles of a judgement to become a binding authority in later cases. The case of Entick v. Carrington (1775) involved a situation where Entick had suffered the seizure of his private papers under a warrant, an action which was ruled to be unlawful as there was no law authorising the act. The case is one of a number of judicial decisions which set out fundamental principles concerning the relationship between the state and the citizen. Case law has provided constitutional principles important in areas ...

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