Key Historical documents

• What is the magna Carta?

  1215 - an agreement between the Barons and King john - specific demands for nobility - Many clauses have been re-appealed but it still remains important

  It showed no one should be deprived of liberty or property without the due process of the law
• What is the bill of rights?

  1689- passed by parliament due to James II arbitory rule - it meant that his successors ( William III and his wife) had to affirm their right of parliament when they got accepted into the throne

  It showed that there was need for provisions of parliament, free elections, and freedom of speech in parliament.
• What is the Act of settlement?

  1701- parliament trying to exclude James III and his successors the right to the throne because they were Catholic

  It showed that parliament has the right to determine who was in line to the throne
• What is the Acts of Union?

  1707 - as the UK and Scotland had the same monarch but different parliaments, both countries were placed under the power of Westminster

  
  

  (Tony Blairs government passed legislation in 1997 so they could have their own parliament)
• What is the Parliaments Acts?

  1911- Reduced power in the house of Lords - so they couldn't interfere with the agenda of the House of Commons - The 1911 Act came about when the house of lords rejected the radical tax " peoples budget" introduced by David Lloyd George

  1911- Lords couldn't delay money Bills. For non- financial Bills they had the power to veto it for two years

  1949- reduced the power to 1 year for veto
• What is the European Comities' Act?

  1972- Passed by Edward heaths Government- the act took Britain into the European economic committee , the forerunner of the EU

  It established the principle that EU law would take proceeding over UK law