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British Constitution



The British constitution has evolved over many centuries. Unlike the constitutions of America, France and many Commonwealth countries, the British constitution has not been assembled at any time into a single, consolidated document. Instead it is made up of common law, statute law, conventions etc.

Of all the democratic countries in the world, only Israel is comparable to Britain in having no single document codifying the way its political institutions function and setting out the basic rights and duties of its citizens. Britain does, however, have certain important constitutional documents, including the Magna Carta (1215) which protects the rights of the community against the Crown; the Bill of Rights (1689) which extended the powers of Parliament, making it impracticable for the Sovereign to ignore the wishes of the Government; and the Reform Act (1832), which reformed the system of parliamentary representation. Common law as a constitutional source has never been precisely defined – it is deduced from custom or legal precedents and interpreted in court cases by judges. Conventions are another source of Constitution. They are rules and practices which are not legally enforceable, but which are regarded as indispensable to the working of government. Many conventions are derived from the historical events through which the British system of government has evolved.

The English constitution may be changed easily. It may be altered, and in the past it has been altered, through the slow accretion of custom by an act of Parliament, or by judicial interpretation

The flexibility of the British constitution helps to explain why it has developed so fully over the years. However, since Britain joined the European Community in 1973, the rulings of the European Court of Human Justice have increasingly determined and codified sections of British law in those areas ( covered by the various treaties ) to which Britain is a party. In the process British constitutional and legal arrangements are beginning to resemble those of Europe.

 

New words:

- to extend – расширять;

- source – источник;

- to define precisely – точно определить;

- to deduce – выводить (заключение, следствие и т. д.);

- to be legally enforceable – иметь законную силу;

- indispensable – незаменимый;

- to derive – вытекать, происходить;

- to alter – изменяться, меняться;

- accretion – приращение, увеличение;

- flexibility – гибкость.

 

 

Questions to the text:

1. What is the British constitution made of?

2. What important documents are the basic for the British constitution?

3. What rights did the Magna Carta protect?

4. What did the Bill of Rights extend?

5. Did the Reform Act reform the system of parliamentary representation?

6. What are sources of the British constitution?

7. Where are many conventions derived from?

8. May the British constitution be altered? Explain, please.

9. Why has the British constitution developed so fully?

10. What are the advantages of unwritten Constitution?

 

Exercise 2. Translate into Russian:

1. Magna Carta required King John of England to proclaim certain rights, respect certain legal procedures.

2. Presented with the Magna Carta, King John agreed to its terms for one purpose only: to buy time.

3. Magna Carta is Statute Number One, it has 63 provisions.

4. The English Bill of Rights grew out of the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

5. The main purpose of the Bill of Rights was to declare illegal various practices of the King James II.

6. The Bill of Rights prohibited the monarch from royal interference with the law.

7. The Bill of Rights prohibited the monarch from levying taxes or custom duties without Parliament’s consent.

8. The statute prohibited the raising and maintaining of a standing army during peacetime.

9. The Bill of Rights became one of the cornerstones of the unwritten English constitution.

10. The Bill of Rights has also a significant impact on U.S.A. law.

 

Exercise 3. Fill in gaps with words given below, translate the text into Russian:

case law, an Act of Parliament, adapted, had settled, conquest, in the south, effective, to standardize the law, local administration, modern court system







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