Nature and Sources of the Constitution

• Magna Carta (1215)


  Limited power of the monarchy, established principle of the crown not being above law
• Bill of Rights Act (1689)


  New monarchs had to accept the summonings of regular parliaments, free elections and parliamentary freedom of speech
• Act of Settlement (1701)


  Accepted parliaments importance over crown by giving parliament authority to determine succession. Confirmed judicial independence
• Act of Union (1707)


  United parliaments of Scotland, Wales and England. Created the UK
• Parliament Act (1911)


  Lords lost their right to veto and could only delay bills for up to 2 years
• Parliament Act (1949)


  Reduced the Lord's delay to 1 year.
• European Communities Act (1972)


  European law took precedence over over domestic law. Added UK to the EU
• Type of Constitution in UK

  Uncodified: not written in one place

  Unentrenched: no formal amendment process

  Also it's unitary (only parliament has absolute authority to enact legislation. 'Twin pillars' of constitution include rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty
• Common Law 


  The way in which the judiciary interprets law and what precedent is set from it. E.g. Somerset vs Stewart (1772) Somerset was a slave imprisoned for escaping, Lord Mansfield found that nothing in statute law justified slavery so Somerset couldn't be enslaved.
• Statute Law 


  Laws passed by parliament e.g. Scotland Act (1998), Human Rights Act (1998), Equality Act (2010), Same Sex Marriage Act (2013)
• Conventions


  Long established agreements over topics. E.g. there is no legal requirement that Peers in the House of Lords cannot be prime ministers but in 1963 Lord Home recognised this wouldn't be constitutionally acceptable and so resigned. Also pm's are expected to consult commons over military action
• Authoritative Works


  There is a small number of influential works in the constitution e.g. Bagehot wrote "The English Constitution" (1867) about the relationships between the monarchy, legislature and executive and this became a core constitutional text
• Treaties


  Formal agreements between countries e.g. UK was a signatory to Treaty of Rome (1957) as it entered the EU