Test

Ans

(1) A constitution includes the set of rules, practices, and regulations which plots the roles and
powers of the basic institutions of the state, their relationship and powers over each other, and
their relationship and power over an individual. There are two types of constitution: ‘written’
and ‘unwritten’ however, it is more accurate to say ‘codified’ and ‘uncodified’. The only
countries in the world that follow an ‘uncodified’ constitution are New Zealand, Israel and the
UK. For the United Kingdom constitution, there are four sources of constitutions which go as
following: Acts of Parliament, Common Law, European law and Constitutional Conventions.

(2) Acts of Parliament, Common Law, European law, and Constitutional Conventions

(3) Where all laws have been combined into a single document and written down on a piece of
paper, that constitution would be labelled as ‘written’, or ‘codified’. Whereas laws which
have not been written down on a piece of paper, they’re called ‘unwritten’ or ‘uncodified’.
The UK has an unwritten constitution but it is more accurate to say it has an uncodified
constitution.

(4) Constitutional conventions [hereafter referred to as ‘CC’] are a non-legal rules and practices
of the United Kingdom’s uncodified system, but they cannot be enforced in the court. They
are binding on all constitutional actors: a judge, a minister, a monarch, a parliamentarian etc.
If a CC is violated, they face political repercussions (consequences) in the form of legitimate
criticism i.e., accusation of unconstitutional conduct; there is no jail time etc.

They are created through a self-regulatory process. A timeline of decades consisting of habits,
practice and understandings may ‘crystallise’ into constitutional connections which makes it
an ‘obligation’ to follow. The obligation if violated leads to political repercussions. A CC
come to an end for example if a statute is passed which conflicts with the existing CC, then
the convention will be no more. At an unidentified point in time, the CC may de-crystallise,
and return back to being a habit, practice or an understanding.

(5) A source is constitutional if it is defined in the constitution’s set of rules, regulations and
practices with its role and powers over other sources.

(6) The Human Rights Act 1998

(7) The ultimate supreme law-making authority lies in the legislature which includes the Parliament
and the Crown.

(8) The ‘entrenchment clause’ makes a law unamendable. This is because this particular law, had
been debated a lot in the past, and had a large history of passing through the parliament before its
implementation. Hence, it tends to be a well-thought and designed law, thus making it unamendable.

(9) An act of parliament is the most supreme law, and the executive and the legislature have limited
powers to hold the act void. The maximum the judiciary can do is do a judicial review, which is
unlikely to absolutely void the act, because their primary role is to interpret the law. Therefore, courts
cannot void the act, and are bound to follow.

(10) The UK constitution is usually labelled as ‘unwritten’, there are however, quite many ‘written’
sources which can clearly be identified as constitutional e.g., magna carta 1215 and the bill of rights
1689. Therefore, it tends to be more accurate to say that the constitution is ‘uncodified’ because not
all laws written or written were combined into a single document. The UK constitution consists of 3
major institutions which are the Legislature, The Executive, and the Judiciary, where the Legislature
has the most power. The role of judiciary is to interpret the law made by the legislature, where the
executives have ministerial responsibilities which they are bound to follow. There are four sources of
this constitution which goes as following: the Acts of Parliament e.g.: The War Damages act 1965,
Common Law (law made by the judges), European law and finally Constitutional Conventions. The
UK constitution follows the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy, which means that the acts of
Parliament are supreme law. However, parliaments are bound to respect the European law and cannot
pass any law against the European law. Moreover, the supremacy also lies with the crown, which
means that the legislature in the United Kingdom has the most power over its other institutions.

(11) To determine the existence of a constitutional convention, Sir Ivor Jennings created a cumulative
three-part test where if one link failed the entire test failed.
The first question Is there a precedent for the practice? If there is no precedent there is no convention,
but it’s rather a habit.
The second question is, is there normatively of practice?
The third question is, is there a reason for the rule?
If all links are a yes, then it’s a binding constitutional convention and therefore, it exists.