key terms

• judiciary - separate institution for the government, responsible for interpreting and applying law. the courts and judges dispense justice
• supreme court - highest court in the UK political system. established in 2009 after the constitutional reform act of 2005. an appeals court
• judicial precedent - when a judge in a court declares an important point of law, meaning of law, and how it should be applied, a declaration which must be followed
• common law - law derived from custom and precedent
• judicial review - power of the judiciary to review the government and sometimes reverse actions by other branches that breach the law/act incompatibly with the Human Rights Act
• ultra vires - principle that one has acted beyond one's authority
• judicial independence - a central principle of the rule of law; judges must be independent of control or perusasion by the executive or legislative body
• judidical neutrality - judges should be neutral and their judgements must never be influenced by any personal prejudice
• elective dictatorship - where the executive dominates the legislature e.g. a large majority in parliament. a term used by Lord Hailsham, the Lord Chancellor in 1976.
• EU - a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states
• four freedoms - the EU aims to integrate its member states using the four freedoms. free movement of goods, free movement of capital, free movement of workers and the freedom to provide and establish services.
• legal sovreignty - sovereignty in terms of law, and it refers to that person or body of persons who, by law, have the power to issue final command
• political sovreignty - dominant power or supreme authority, rests with the people and exercised through representative bodies such as Congress or Parliament.