Constitution and judiciary

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  • British Constitution and Judiciary
    • Constitution
      • Sources
        • Statute Law
          • 1911/1949 Parliament Act
        • Common Law
          • 2005 case, the evidence collected against defendants had been collected using torture - the "common law of England is strongly against the use of torture"
        • Conventions
          • Queen calls biggest party to form a government
        • Royal prerogative
          • Queen giving Royal Assent, can call a war, can disolve parliament
        • EU Law
        • works of authority
      • Reforms
        • House of Lords Reform
          • removed all but 92 hereditary peers in 1999
        • Constitutional Reform Act 2005
          • created sepreate Supreme Court
          • Created Lord Chief Justice
          • Judicialappointments reformed
      • Limiting the government
        • rule of law
          • all citizens must obey the law and are equal under it
          • laws passed by Parliament must be interpreted and applied by an independent judiciary
            • Gina Miller said that the government couldn't trigger article 50 wihtouttaking it though Parliament
        • EU
    • Judiciary
      • Functions
        • Interpet the law
          • 1987 Misuse of Drugs Act
        • Uphold the legisative
          • use statutues and common law
        • Judicial review
      • Independence
        • Protected salaries
          • determined by an independent body, the Senior Salaries Review Body
        • Constitutional Reform Act
          • Separated the Lord Chancellor from all 3 branches of government, creating the Lord Chief Justice as the head of the Judiciary
      • Neutrality
        • 1955 Kilmuir Rules
          • Relaxed in 1987, and in 2013 Lord Neurberger spoke to the BBC commenting on the government and to the Guardian
        • Accountability
          • in 2013 the Supreme Court published videos on youtube of cases, explaining the context and final verdict to show that they are neutral
      • Judicial review
        • review an administrative action by a public body
        • 2003 - the government passed a ban on fur farming and set up a compensation scheme for farmers only for breeding females, argued it was illogical and bad use of power
      • ultra vires
        • public body found acting beyond their powers
        • 2010 Terrorist-Asset Freezing Act
      • Judicial activism
        • Lady Hale and EuropeanUnion 2016
        • Human Rights Act
    • European Union Impact
      • EU Law takes precent over UK law
      • British courts must accept and enforce decisions made by the European Court of Justice
    • Human Rights Act Impact
      • made the rights listed in the European Convention on Human Rights part of UK statute law 
      • has provided citizens with a clear list of rights that they can defend in UK courts 
      • Section 4 requires a declaration of incompatibility to be issued when laws do not comply 
      • Conflicts
        • whether the 1961 Suicide Act is incompatible to section 8 'right to respect for private and family life'
    • Parliamentary Sovereignty
      • European Union
        • Parliament is still sovereign in the EU because it has the power to leave
          • 2016 European Union Referendum - 52 % wanted to leave
        • EU law is supreme over Acts of Parliament 
      • Popular sovereignty 
        • principle that the people are the source of all political power and authority 
        • 2016 EU Referendum - did not specify what should happen after the vote. The outcome had to be respected
      • Devolution
        • Scotland Act (2016), all devolved greater legislative and financial powers – further reducing the number of reserved matters on which only Parliament can legislate 
        • January 2017, the devolved administrations argued that the Sewel Convention required legislative consent motions to be passed before  the UK government triggered Article 50 and begin the process of withdrawing from the EU.               
          • Supreme Court ruled that, as important as the Sewel Convention is, and as substantial as the impact of Article 50 might be on the devolved institutions, it had no power to enforce constitutional conventions.
      • Parliament is still sovereign
        • has absolute and unlimited legal authority, reflected in its ability to make, amend and repeal any laws it wishes.
          • 2010 Terrorsit-Asset Freezing Act

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