The Constitution

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Limited government
A form of government in which government power is subject to limitations and checks, providing protection for the individual; the opposite of arbitrary government.
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The Rule of Law
The principle that all people and bodies, including government, must must follow the law and can be held to account if they do not.
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Constitution
A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organisation is acknowledged to be governed.
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Codified constitution
A constitution in which key constitutional provisions are collected together within a single legal document, popularly known as a written constitution or the constitution.
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Uncodified Constitution
A constitution that is made up of rules that are found in a variety of sources, in the absence of a single document or written constitution.
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Entrenched
A law, very likely to be part of the constitution, that has key provisions which make it hard or impossible to amend it.
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Sovereignty
A supreme power or authority-parliamentary sovereignty means that parliament have the most power.
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Unitary Constitution
A constitution that concentrates sovereign power in a single body of national government.
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Federal Constitution
A constitution that is based on the principle of shared sovereignty in that there are two relatively autonomous levels of government, the national/federal and the regional/state.
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Royal Prerogative
The monarchs power that is commonly exercised by the prime minister instead of the monarch. They can do things such as declaring war on a country.
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Statute Law
Statute Law is created by Parliament and it is the supreme source of constitutional law in the UK.
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Common Law
Laws created by judges where the law does not cover the issue or is unclear and is therefore open to interpretation.
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Conventions
Rules/norms of behaviour that are considered to be binding as time gives them authority.
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Authoritative Works
Legal and political texts that have become accepted as reference points.
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Treaties
Formal agreements with other countries, usually ratified by Parliament
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EU
The UK joined in 1972. EU law takes precedence over UK law. When the UK leaves the EU, there laws will be converted to UK statue lawss
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Devolution
The dispersal of power, but not sovereignty, within a political system.
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Constitutional value
When a statute law has the authority of a constitutional laws.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

The Rule of Law

Back

The principle that all people and bodies, including government, must must follow the law and can be held to account if they do not.

Card 3

Front

Constitution

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Codified constitution

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Uncodified Constitution

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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