British Constitution

1. Name: Afrah
Roll no. 5051
Main Topic. British Constitution

2. What is constitution
Why we need constitution
Intro of British constitution
History
Salient features

3. a set of basic laws or principles for a country
that describe the rights and duties of its
citizens and the way in which it is governed
The Constitution is important because it
protects individual freedom, and its
fundamental principles

4. There can be no state without constitution
It consist those fundamental rules which
determine and distribute power among
the various organs of the Govt.
As well as determine the relations of the
governing authorities with the people
The British were the first discover how to
manage a large state

5. 1. Unwritten:
 most imp feature of British constitution is its
unwritten character
 Because there is no such thing as written, precise
and available in single book
 The French writer De Tocqueville once marked that:
England has no constitution, British
constitution is a mixture of character, statues,
judicial decisions, common law, usages or traditions,
customs, conventions, precedents etc.

6. 2. Continuity:
 The British constitution was not framed at a single time.
 It is still in the process of growth
3. Flexible constitution:
 Best example because it can be passed, amended and
repealed by simple majority of parliament since no
distinction is made b/w constitutional law and ordinary
law
 British constitution is different from America and
Pakistan, because in both countries there is consider to
be a supreme document in which amended is very rare

7. 4. Evolutionary Growth
 The British constitution is a specimen of evolutionary
development.
 Still going through the process of growth
 Never framed by any constituent assembly or king
 No precise date of its birth can be given
 No one claim to be its author because it comes from
precedent to precedent and from past experiences of
law and practices

8. 5. Unitary:
 It also has unitary character as apposed to a federal one.
 All power of the Govt. are vested in the British parliament,
which is a sovereign body.
 The executive organs of state are subordinate to it and
exercise delegated powers and are answerable to it.
 There is only one legislature
6. Bicameralism:
British parliament consist two houses
1. House of common (lower house)
2. House Lords (upper house)

9. 7. Rule of law:
 Imp feature of British constitution rule of law. It implies
equality. It has three implication
1. all persons are equal before the law irrespective of their
position or rank
2. This doctrine emphasis the supremacy of the law and not of
an individual.
3. No one can detained or imprisoned without a fair and
proper trait by a competent court of law.
Nor can a person he punished or deprived of his life,
liberty or property except for a specific breach of law proved
in an ordinary court of law by an ordinary procedure

10. 8.Independency of judiciary:
The British constitution is based on the independency of
judiciary. Judges are bound to obey and respect
constitution.
9. Sovereignty of Parliament:
Very imp feature of British constitution . The court cannot
question the validity of the laws passed by British Parliament.
It can make illegal what is legal and legalize what is illegal.


11. 10. Organic nature:
• The nature of the British cons. Is organic. It is constantly
growing. There is much that is still same and there is much
also which changes according to the needs of time. There is
continually development.
11. Role of conventions:
Another very important feature is the existence of a large number of
conventions in it. No one understand this constitution properly
without studying these conventions carefully . They are a part of
constitution but they are not laws, because as such conventions
cannot be enforced by the courts.
Examples:
The queen cannot go against the advice of the cabinet
The PM must sit in the House of Commons

12. 12. Mixed Constitution:
The British cons. is a unique blend of monarch, aristocracy
and democracy. The existence of queen and kind shows
that there is Monarchy in England. The existence of House
of lords gives an idea that England has an Aristocracy type
of Govt. The house of common reflects actual working of a
full-fledged democracy in this country. But all these
diverse political elements have been welded together to
produce the finale effect of perfect representative
democracy

13.  13. Gap b/w Theory and Practice:
• There is great gap between theory and practices.
• As for instance, in theory, it is the King and Queen who is
sovereign, but in practice it is the parliament, which is sovereign.
• The Queen in theory is the fountainhead or patronage but in
practice all honors and titles are conferred by the Prime Minister.
• This also justifies the remarks of Lord Sankey that
“Theory has no relation to realities in British
constitution”