Historical context of UK

• Magna Carta, 1215

  • signed by King John, series of promises made between King and subjects to prevent king from abusing his people.
  • established certain basic rights e.g right to a jury trial
• Bill of Rights, 1689

  • guaranteed further basic rights e.g free elections, laid out both rights of Parliament + limit power of Monarch.
  • established frequency of Parliaments + freedom of speech - parliamentary privilege.
• Act of Settlement, 1701

  • confirmed power of Parliament to determine the succession to the throne.
• Acts of Union, 1707

  • united Scotland to England + Wales, creating the United Kingdom.
  • Scotland continued to have a separate legal system.
• Parliament Act, 1911

  • removed the House of Lords power to veto a bill, except one to extend the lifetime of a Parliament - instead Lords could delay a bill up to 2 years.
  • reduced max lifespan of Parliament from 7 to 5 years.
• Parliament Act, 1949

  • further reduced the Lords’ delaying powers to 1 year.
• Statute law - law made by Parliament, statute law overrides other laws, due to parliamentary sovereignty e.g European Communities Act 1972
• Common law - ‘judge-made law’, when deciding on legality of a case, judges will use previous decisions on similar cases e.g royal prerogative.
• Conventions - non-legal established rules, ‘what is expected’ e.g monarch granting Royal Assent to each bill passed by Parliament.
• Works of authority - works written by scholars to outline what is ‘correct’ for the UK constitution e.g Bagehot’s The English Constitution 1867 - helped shape the constitution and A.V Dicey helped create ‘parliamentary sovereignty’ (1885)