1. THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland

2. THE CONSTITUTION IN HISTORY
XIII CENTURY
1215: barons limit the King’s power through a document called Magna Charta set of guarantees for the individual
Magnum Concilium is summoned and comes into being the Parliament: Lords, shires and boroughs together Two Houses (House of Commons and House of Lords separate)

3. THE CONSTITUTION IN HISTORY
XVII CENTURY
Conflict between monarchy and Parliament
1649: King Charles I execution
1688: “Glorious Revolution” (or Bloodless Revolution); William d’Orange becomes the new sovereign elected by Parliament
1689: Bill of Rights; the King has to conform to the laws of the Parliament without having permission to suspend them single individual and two Houses’ freedom
1701: Act of Settlement the Parliament establishes the rules for the succession to the throne; England and Scotland under the same crown.

4. THE CONSTITUTION IN HISTORY
XVIII CENTURY
the Cabinet (highest rank of the King’s advisors) grows in autonomy from the King and follows the majority of the Parliament
principle of the common law executed by the Parliament through “impeachment”: ministers are responsible for the King’s acts
Prime Minister gets a main position

5. THE CONSTITUTION IN HISTORY
XIX CENTURY
England (and imperialism) becomes a world power and industrial middle-classes lead society: liberty of associationism; recognition of the Trade Unions; equality of rights for the Catholics
Debate for the universal suffrage: in 1832 the Great Reform Act limits extension of the right to vote; great industrial cities can have representatives at the House of Commons
: extension of the suffrage (2,5 million people); two main factions: the Whig (liberal thought) and the Tory (nowadays conservatives)
The Victorian Age: parliamentary Government form representatives decide for the country and the Government is dependent on the Houses

6. CURRENT GOVERNMENT FORM: THE “WESTMINSTER MODEL” OF DEMOCRACY
1918: universal suffrage
Welfare State’s development
Leading position of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister
Conservative Party (XVIII century)
PARTIES which stand out
against the others
1914: leads the Government with a liberal thought
Labour Party (late XIX century)
faithful to the leader who intends to follow the election plan

7. the candidate with the highest number of votes wins the election
CURRENT GOVERNMENT FORM:
THE “WESTMINSTER MODEL” OF DEMOCRACY
TWO HOUSES
House of Commons election mechanism:
Plurality or First-Past-The-Post
divisione in 659 collegi corrispondenti ai seggi da attribuire
One candidate for each…
the candidate with the highest number of votes wins the election

8. CURRENT GOVERNMENT FORM:
THE “WESTMINSTER MODEL” OF DEMOCRACY
Cons:
Deep difference between votes and number of polling stations
Penalization of the “third party”, the Liberal democratics (Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party together): lots of votes but not many polling stations

9. THE CONSTITUTION
There is not a written constitutional text in the United Kingdom
Rigid constitutional rules do not exist: every single rule can be altered by a law approved by the Parliament
There are normative and consuetudinary principles (which can be modified) fundamental to maintain the system’s efficiency
Constitution: institutions’ attribution, their reciprocal relations and their relations with citizens

10. Constitution’s principles
Sovereignty of the Parliament (above all the institutions)
Rule of law
equality in front of laws
fundamental liberties guaranteed
institutional organs must act according to laws
citizens are required to observe laws
the UK enters the EU (1973)
Late twentieth century: the Parliament authority slowly began to decrease
European convention of human rights
large use of referendum

11. RECENT CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS (from 1997: labors come back to power lead by Tony Blair)
Human Rights Act (1998): United Kingdom incorporates European Convention of Human Rights catalogue of citizens’ rights and liberties
House of Lords Act (1999): hereditary seats are removed; creation of a “second elective house of Lords”
c.d. devolution
Scotland Act 1998: creation of the Scottish Parliament
Government of Wales Act e Northern Ireland Act (1998): primary and secondary normative meetings in the Wales and Northern Ireland
Greater London Authority Act 1999: new metropolitan district in London; mayor and assemblies are elective

12. RECENT CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS (from 1997: labors come back to power lead by Tony Blair)
Additional Member System
Large use of referendum
Courts apply juridical rules according to the Convention without basing on the literal interpretation criterion
Constitutional Reform Act 2005: the Lord Chancellor is deprived of some juridical remits; creation of the Supreme Court of United Kingdom in place of the Law Lords

13. LAWS all the constitutional rules can be adapted by ordinary laws
the term “law” does not include written sources (constitutionally and parliamentary); it regards rules applied in courtrooms
delegated legislation: Government’s normative work who acts on the Statutory Instrument Act 1946 (a rule, before the execution, has to be presented to the Parliament who can ask for a negative resolution)
English juridical system includes:
a Corpus of traditional rules (common law and equity law)
European or parliamentary rules