The most important and take precedence over the others if there is a crash
Common law
Deduced from customs or legal precedents and is interpreted in court cases by judges
Never been precisely defined
Conventionns
Rules and practices which are not legally enforceable
Be regarded as vital to the working of the government
Division of powers among the legislature,the ececutive and the judiciary
Parliament
It passes laws
It authorizes taxes and government budgets
It scrutinizes and investigates government administration
It debates current issues
Government
The Legislature:Parliament
the Crown
the monarchy must consent to pass a law (a matter of course)
the House of Lords (Upper):Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal and Law Lords
Archbishops,senior bishops,hereditary peers and life peers
To examine and revise bills from the Lower House
the House of Commons (Lower):consists of 650 members elected by the people from 650 constituencies. (MPs)
The party which holds the majority of "seats" in the House of Commons forms the government, with its leader acting as the Prime Minister
To makes laws for the UK
To control government's finances
To scrutinize government administration
The Executive
the Prime Minister
Responsible for all the governmental
Appoint government officials
Head of the Cabinet
Liaison between the Monarch and the government
the Cabinet ministers
Two principles
Collective responsibility
The Cabinet members must act unanimously
Individual ministerial responsibility
The ministers are responsible for the work of the departments that they are in charge of
assistants to the ministers
The Judiciary
Rather complicated in that England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have there own legal systems,with minor differences in law,organization and practice
the magistrates' court
the Crown Court
(Green dealt Civil cases)
the High Court
the Court of Apeal
(Pink dealt appeals)
the Supreme Court
Political Parties:The power to run the country lies in the elected Parliament
The Conservative Party
Middle and uppermiddle class
center-right
Nationalization High taxation "From cradle to grave" The "Left"
The Labor Party
The poor in the society ; the working class
center-left
Free enterprise Privatization The "Right"
The Liberal Democrats
Election
General Election: The term of each Parliament is five years.At the end of each term,a general election is held for a new House of Commons
First-Past-the-Post
Basic Political System in the UK
Constitutional monarchy
Parliamentary democracy
United state
The Structure of the Political System
Monarch : Head of State in the U.K. and Commonwealth
