Public Law - Classifying Constitutions

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  • Created by: Alasdair
  • Created on: 11-11-20 00:47
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  • Classifying constitutions
    • Written/Unwritten
      • Written
        • State will have its constitution set out in single document
        • Document will contain fundamental laws of constitution and define powers of different branches of state.
        • May also contain Bill of Rights setting out fundamental civil liberties to be enjoyed by citizens of state
      • Unwritten
        • A state with this will not have its constitution set out in a single authoritative document
        • Constitution will be made up of a number of different sources, such as statute and case law.
    • Republican/Monarchical
      • Republican
        • Will usually have democratically-elected president as its head of state
      • Monarchical
        • Will have an unelected monarch as head  of state
          • Although monarch's role may be largely ceremonial
    • Federal/Unitary
      • Federal
        • Will have division of power between central government and regional government
      • Unitary
        • Will have single sovereign legislative body, with power being concentrated at centre
    • Rigid/Flexible
      • Rigid
        • Constitution is said to be 'entrenched'
        • May be changed only by following special procedure
        • Most states with written constitutions tend to be rigid
      • Flexible
        • Constitution which is comparatively easy to change
          • because no special procedures are necessary for constitution to be amended.
    • Formal/informal separation of powers
      • Formal separation of powers
        • Has clear separation both of functions and personnel between executive (ie. government), the legislative (ie. parliament) and judicial (ie. the courts) branches of state
      • Informal separation of powers
        • Likely to have significant degree of overlap in terms of functions and personnel between executive, legislative and judicial branches of state.
    • Classifying UK constitution
      • unwritten
        • No single authoritative written document setting out how government should operatie and rights of individual citizens
        • Made  up of variety of different sources
      • Monarchical
        • Head of state is Queen
          • Unelected and head of state by virtue of her position within Royal Family
      • unitary
        • Parliament is supreme (or sovereign) law-making body and other law-making bodies within UK
          • e.g. Scottish Parliament or local authorities
          • Derive their law-making powers from powers they have been given by Westminster Parliament
        • Arguably, devolution has given UK some quasi-federal characteristics
      • flexible
        • due to be unwritten
        • legally constitution may be changed quite easily because no lengthy or complex procedure
      • Largely informal separation of powers
        • No formal mechanism by which branches are kept separate
        • Degree of overlap between both in terms of function and personnel
        • Little separation of powers under UK constitution because no written constitution to strictly separate membership and functions of each branch of state

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