Конституция Великобритании: истоки и источники

Filinkov V.D.,
Student at the Russian State University of Justice

Scientific consultant Popova E.P.,
Associate Professor  at the Foreign Languages Department,
Russian State University of Justice, PhD in Philology

The British Constitution: Origins and Sources

Executive summary. The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the peculiarities of the constitutional system of Great Britain, the origins of English legislation, the first acts, constitutional norms and rules. The article examines the Constitution of Great Britain, its concept, structure, and peculiarities. The authors study the term "constitution" through Russian- and English-language sources, highlight the peculiarities of the British Constitution, and also reveal in detail each of its elements, including statutes, acts, norms and rules, judicial precedents, customs and rules of constitutional conventions, acts of European law and doctrine. Dialectical, logical, formal-legal and a number of other methods of knowledge were used in the research, while generally observing a systematic approach.

Keywords: Constitution of Great Britain, law, norms, acts, statutes, judicial precedents, legislative system, public system, term “Constitution”, rules, customs, doctrine.

Great Britain (the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is one of the largest states in Western Europe, located on the British Isles. The population of the United Kingdom is about 66 million people. The form of government in Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. According to the form of government, the United Kingdom is a unitary state consisting of four constituent parts: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Constitution of Great Britain is a peculiar phenomenon of legal reality that has no analogues in the world. In the United Kingdom, there is no constitution as a single legislative act that establishes the foundations of the social and State system. The so-called unwritten constitution operates here. The Constitution of Great Britain can be spoken of only in the abstract sense of this concept, due to a set of different sources.

The Cambridge Dictionary describes the term “constitution” as a set of laws and principles that a country’s government must obey. The British Constitution is a unique phenomenon in the modern world, its main features consist in its historical character, flexibility and the fact that it is unwritten. The UK Constitution is a set of norms and practices governing the organization and functioning of State power, as well as relations between the State and citizens in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Constitution was formed gradually, in this sense it is historical, its constituent elements appeared at different times. Acts of a common nature differ from ordinary ones only in the subject of regulation, they do not have legal differences and a special position in the hierarchy of legal acts, therefore they can be canceled by parliament at any time.

The UK Constitution is unwritten, which means the absence of a single, “codified” act with the appropriate name, in this sense it is not “written down”. Constitutional customs, principles and practices that are known, but really not officially recorded, play a big role in it. The Constitution of Great Britain includes:

1. statutes;

2. acts of delegated legislation;

3. norms, the establishment of which is the prerogative of the Crown;

4. norms and rules of the House of Commons and the House of Lords;

5. judicial precedents;

6. customs and constitutional convention norms;

7. acts of European law and doctrine.

Statutes are acts passed by Parliament and sanctioned by the Monarch. In the order of adoption, amendment and repeal of all statutes (in the narrow sense) are the same and have equal legal force. Such laws include the following constitutional acts:

1. The Magna Carta of 1215;

2. Habeas Corpus Act 1679;

3. Bill of Rights 1689;

4. The Representation of the People Acts 1949;

5. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949;

6. The Peerage Act 1963;

7. The House of Commons Act 1978;

8. The Succession to the Throne Act 1701;

9. The Local Government Acts 1972.

The Magna Carta, or “Magna Carta”, was undoubtedly the most influential historical document among others that influenced the long historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the UK today. After King John of England violated a number of old rules and practices that controlled England, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta, which lists what would later become known as human rights. Among them were the right of the church to be free from state interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and be protected from exorbitant taxes, as well as the right of widows who own property not to remarry. It also included rules prohibiting bribery and official corruption.

The role of the Magna Carta as a source of freedom has long been recognized. One of the fundamental provisions of the Charter of 1215 was that no one should be imprisoned without first going through the legal system. It also introduced the concept of jury trial. “No free person can be captured, imprisoned, exiled or ruined in any way... except by the lawful decision of his colleagues or by the law of the kingdom”, according to paragraph 39 of the Charter of 1215. This has successfully established the concept of the rule of law, which protects people from arbitrary punishment.

The Petition of Right, which was adopted on June 7, 1628, is an English constitutional document that establishes clear individual guarantees against the state and is said to be on par with the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights of 1689. This was part of a larger dispute between Parliament and the Stuart monarchy, culminating in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which lasted from 1638 to 1651 and was finally settled by the Glorious Revolution of 1688. King Charles I conceded to the Petition of Right (1628), which included protests against taxes without the permission of parliament, unfair detention and military complaints. This is the original act of the English Parliament, which has remained at the disposal of Parliament since its creation. The bill established the ideals of frequent parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in parliament, which is now known as parliamentary privilege.

All the basic principles of the Bill of Rights are still in force today, and the Bill of Rights is often mentioned in court proceedings in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries. It occupies a central place in the broader national historical narrative of the documents that established the rights of parliament and established universal civil liberties, starting with the Magna Carta in 1215.

The Act of Settlement of 1701 was passed to ensure the Protestant succession to the crown and strengthen guarantees for the preservation of the parliamentary system of government. Acts of delegated legislation are normative instruments for the implementation of delegated legislation, i.e. acts adopted by the Government by virtue of direct instructions of the law and establishing legal norms. The Parliamentary rules and by-laws of the House of Commons and the House of Lords determine the organization and functioning of the Chambers, as well as the status of their members, who make up the parliamentary law.

Customs and constitutional convention norms (agreements) are political practices that represent a rule or agreement between political forces, which as a result turns into a norm. Precedents are decisions and principles formulated in specific cases. They are of great importance for the protection of individual rights. Case law consists of norms and principles created and applied by judges in the process of making their decisions.

Principles of the doctrine of judicial precedent:

1) decisions of a higher court are mandatory for a lower court;

2) the courts (with the exception of the House of Lords) are bound by their own decisions;

3) the courts of appeal should not follow the decisions made due to “inattention”;

4) the courts of Appeal are not bound by their own decisions contradicting later decisions of the House of Lords;

5) The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is not bound by its own decisions and decisions of the House of Lords.

In conclusion, the UK Constitution is one of a kind. Because of its unique history, it has no analogues. The state system, history and culture of Great Britain has created its own social system, which has existed for more than one century.

Литература

1. Constitutional law (general and special part). Textbook. / Edited by S.N. Sanzharov. – Lugansk: publishing house of LNU named after V. Dal, 2017. – 504.

2. Magna Carta the Great Charter of English liberty decreed by King John at runnymede June 15, a.d. 1215. URL: https://1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/magna.htm (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).

3. The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 by Parliament of England. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Habeas_Corpus_Act_1679 (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).

4. The Bill of Rights 1689 by Parliament of England (or An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown). URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).

5. The Representation of the People Act 1949 by Parliament of the United Kingdom. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1949 (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).

6. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 by Parliament of the United Kingdom. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Parliament_Act,_1911 (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).

7. Peerage Act 1963 1963 by the United Kingdom Parliament. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Peerage_Act_1963 (Date of visit: 15.10.2022).