- Where power is found
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Statute law – Acts of Parliament
- Constitutional statute law includes laws that define who can vote (Rep. of People Act 1969), human rights (Human Rights Act 1998) which incorporated ECHR
- Pre-Brexit: European law indirectly formed part of the British Constitution, i.e. European laws and treaties (e.g. Lisbon Treaty) had precedence and were binding on UK gov
- Statute law is sovereign (highest legal authority)
- Rule of Law – nobody is above/outside the law
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Common law – case law decided by judges
- Tends to lead to statute law
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Royal prerogative
- Authority of the monarch
Conventions
- The way in which things are done
- Uncodified
- Agreed rules and procedures
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Salisbury-Addison Convention of 1945
- House of Lords cannot block any manifesto promises of a government
- It is convention that the leader of the largest single party becomes the prime minister
- It is the convention of the monarch to give royal assent to bills passed by both houses
Works of authority
Books and documents that set out the conventions of how things work
The English Constitution, Walter Bagehot (1867)
- “dignified” and “efficient” parts of the constitution
- The monarch was “dignified”, having no real political power
- The House of Commons was the “ultimate authority in the English Constitution”
Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, A. V. Dicey (1885)
- Asserts the notion of parliamentary sovereignty
- P. possessed “the right to make or unmake any law whatever”
Parliamentary Practice, Erskine May (1844)
- Regularly referenced by the speaker of the Commons
- “Bible of parliamentary procedure”
- Standing orders of each chamber
The Cabinet Manual, Cabinet Office of the Coalition Government (2010)
“A guide to laws, conventions and rules on the operation of government. It is to guide but not to direct. It will have no formal legal status and it is not meant to be legally binding”
—Sir Gus O’Donnell, cabinet secretary (2011)
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Produced by the Cabinet Office at the start of the coalition gov
- Project initiated by Gordon Brown (PM of Labour, 2007-2010)
- Covers ministerial conduct, cabinet composition, and scrutiny of government by parliament