UK Government & Politics: Constitution and Human Rights Act 1998

Flashcards covering the UK constitution, its sources, historical milestones, reforms since 1997, and human rights conflicts.

Constitution

A set of laws, rules and practices that set out the way in which a state is organised and how it functions.

Codified Constitution

A constitution contained in a single written document.

Uncodified Constitution

A constitution not contained in a single written document, but rather a compilation from a wide variety of different sources.

Rule of Law

The principle that all people and bodies, including government, must follow the law and can be held to account if they do not.

Parliamentary sovereignty

The principle that Parliament can make, amend or unmake any law, and cannot bind its successors or be bound by its predecessors.

Collective rights

Rights that protect a whole group of individuals, such as religious groups or disabled people.

Statute Law

Laws passed by Parliament.

Royal Prerogative

Powers historically held by the monarch that are now exercised by the government, such as the ability to award honours.

Common Law

Laws made by judges in court cases where the statute law does not cover the issue or is unclear.

Conventions

Traditions or customs that are not contained in law but are influential in the operation of a political system.

Treaties

Formal agreements with other countries, usually ratified by Parliament.

Magna Carta

A document signed in $1215$ that established the principle that everyone, including the king, was subject to the law.

Democracy

A political system based on the principle of government by the people, often through elected representatives.

Devolution

The transfer of power away from the central government to regions, such as Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Referendum

A direct vote by the electorate on a specific proposal or issue.

Entrenched

A characteristic of a constitution where special, difficult procedures are required to amend its rules.

Inalienable

Rights that are fundamental and cannot be taken away or transferred.

Unitary State

A political system where all legal sovereignty is contained in a single place (the centre).

Civil Liberties

The basic rights and freedoms of citizens, such as freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial.

US Constitution

An example of a codified constitution which contains $7$ articles and $27$ amendments.

Constitutionalism

Government limited by appropriate checks and balances, operating within accepted rules and principles.

Arbitrary power

Power that is exercised without restraint or according to individual will rather than law.

Westminster model

A system of government where power is concentrated at the centre in the hands of relatively few individuals.

Unentrenched

A constitution with no special procedure for amendment, allowing it to be changed by a simple Act of Parliament.

Flexible Constitution

A constitution that can be easily amended through the normal legislative process.

Federal State

A political system where sovereignty is shared between a central government and regional states.

Authoritative works

Writings by political experts that explain the inner workings of the constitution; they have persuasive authority but no legal power.

International agreements

Agreements between states, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Interregnum

The period between $1649$ and $1660$ when Britain briefly became a republic under Oliver Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell

The leader who governed Britain as a republic during the Interregnum period after the execution of King Charles I.

Instrument of Government

An early attempt at a written codified document for the British constitution during the Interregnum.

Restoration

The event in $1660$ where the monarchy was restored with the crowning of Charles II.

Bill of Rights

A defining document from $1689$ that helped shape parliamentary sovereignty and established freedom of speech for MPs.

Act of Settlement

A piece of legislation from $1701$ that helped determine the succession to the British throne.

Act of Union

A law passed in $1707$ that joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland into Great Britain.

Parliament Act 1911

Legislation that removed the House of Lords' power to veto money bills and limited their delay power to $2$ years.

Parliament Act 1949

Legislation that further reduced the House of Lords' power to delay a bill to a maximum of $1$ year.

Life Peerages Act 1958

An act that allowed for the creation of peers who hold their titles for life, rather than hereditarily.

European Communities Act 1972

The act that brought the UK into the European Economic Community (precursor to the EU).

Human Rights Act 1998

An act that incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law.

Bagehot’s English Constitution

An authoritative work from $1867$ that describes the workings of the British political system.

Dicey’s Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution

An authoritative work from $1885$ that outlines the principles of the UK constitution.

Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice

An authoritative work from $1844$ used as a reference for parliamentary procedure.

The Cabinet Manual

A document created in $2010$ that sets out the internal rules and practices for how the UK government should be run.

2015 Paris Agreement

An international treaty on climate change that the UK signed, affecting environmental controls.

Modernisation

A theme of Labour’s reforms after $1997$ aiming to update institutions like the House of Lords and the Judiciary.

Democratisation

A theme of Labour’s reforms after $1997$ focusing on referendums, elected mayors, and electoral reform.

Tony Blair

The Labour Prime Minister who initiated a major programme of constitutional change after a landslide victory in $1997$.

House of Lords Act 1999

Legislation that removed most hereditary peers from the House of Lords to modernise the chamber.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

An act that increased transparency by giving the public the right to access information held by public bodies.

Constitutional Reform Act 2005

An act that created the Supreme Court to uphold judicial independence and separate the judiciary from Parliament.

Supreme Court

The highest court in the UK, established to ensure a clear separation between the judiciary and government.

Hereditary peers

Members of the House of Lords who inherited their titles, most of whom were removed by the House of Lords Act $1999$.

Judicial independence

The principle that judges should be free from government interference or political pressure.

Elected mayors

A reform introduced to increase local democracy by allowing cities to vote for their own executive leaders.

Individual rights

Rights that apply to the modern citizen, such as the right to free expression or privacy.

Equality Act 2010

Statute law that protects citizens from discrimination in various areas of public life.

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

An early piece of statute law designed to protect citizens from discrimination based on gender.

Race Relations Act 1976

Statute law aimed at preventing discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnicity.

ECHR

Abbreviation for the European Convention on Human Rights, which all UK parliamentary legislation must conform with.

Rights in conflict

Instances where individual rights and collective rights clash, or when the judiciary and government disagree.

Security vs civil liberties

The trade-off where governments enhance surveillance and detention of terror suspects at the expense of individual freedom.

Right to privacy

An individual right that can clash with the collective right to security during terror investigations.

Right to free speech

An individual right that can clash with the collective right of groups not to be subjected to hate speech.

Free press

The collective right of media organizations to investigate and run stories believed to be in the public interest.

Vernon Bogdanor

A constitutional expert who noted that conventions are a problem because they "are not always understood."

Absolute monarchy

A system of government where the monarch holds total power, which the UK constitution evolved away from over centuries.

Brexit vote 2016

A referendum that highlighted parliamentary sovereignty as the UK decided to leave the European Union.

Prorogation

The action of discontinuing a session of Parliament; in $2019$, the Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson's attempt was unlawful.

Judiciary politicisation

A concern that codifying the constitution would force judges to make political rulings on what is constitutional.

Alternative Vote referendum 2011

A referendum on the voting system that showed a lack of public engagement with constitutional reform.

Philip Johnstone

A commentator for the Daily Telegraph who suggested the UK system wasn't broken after the Brexit Bill passed.

Osmotherly Rules

Guidance for civil servants appearing before Select Committees, cited as part of "piecemeal" codification.

Select committees

Groups of MPs that scrutinise the work of government departments and can call civil servants to give evidence.

Civil servants

Government employees who are guided by the Osmotherly Rules when interacting with Parliament.

Uber driver case study

A legal conflict regarding employment rights and whether individual workers are entitled to specific collective benefits.

Female Circumcision case study

A human rights conflict involving the protection of individuals versus cultural or group practices.

Identity and preferred pronouns case study

A conflict between individual rights to identity and collective or professional obligations.

Checks and balances

Mechanisms that prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful.

Legal sovereignty

The ultimate power to make and enforce laws within a state, which in the UK lies with Parliament.

Persuasive authority

The status of authoritative works like Dicey’s, which guide constitutional understanding but are not legally binding.

Pre-1997 changes

Constitutional milestones such as the Parliament Acts or the European Communities Act.

Post-1997 changes

Reforms including the Human Rights Act, Devolution, and the creation of the Supreme Court.

Evolution vs Revolution

The idea that the UK constitution developed gradually over time rather than being created all at once through a major break.

Judicial review

The power of judges to challenge the actions of public bodies or the government.

Administrative law

The body of law that encompasses areas like asylum law and environmental controls governed by treaties.

Public interest

The justification used by the press to investigate the private lives of individuals.

Asylum law

A policy area heavily influenced by international agreements like the ECHR.

Environmental controls

Regulations governed by international treaties, such as those regarding climate change.

Hate speech

Speech that targets a specific group; preventing it is often seen as a collective right.

Concentration of power

A focus of power in the executive, which opponents of an uncodified constitution seek to reduce.

Judicial neutrality

The principle that judges should not take sides in political disputes, which might be threatened by codification.

9-mark exam question

A politics assessment task requiring three developed points, specific vocabulary, and at least two examples.

25-mark essay

A politics assessment task requiring analysis, evaluation, arguments for and against, and synoptic links.

Synoptic links

Connections made in an essay between different sections of the Politics course (Papers $1$, $2$, or $3$).

Landslide victory

A massive win in an election, such as Tony Blair's victory in $1997$ that allowed for major constitutional reform.

Electoral reform

One of the goals of the Labour democratisation theme, involving changes to the way people vote.

Minority groups

Groups whose human rights were a major focus of Labour's constitutional reforms after $1997$.

Transparency

The goal of the Freedom of Information Act $2000$ to make government actions more visible to the public.

Responsive constitution

A constitution that is able to change and adapt to the needs of modern society.