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The constitution consists of legislation, common law, Crown prerogative and constitutional conventions. Conventions may be written or unwritten. They are principles of behaviour which are not legally enforceable, but form part of the constitution by being enforced on a political, professional or personal level.
(London, Houses of Parliament. The Sun Shining through the Fog by Claude Monet, 1904). Parliament (from old French, parler, "to talk") is the UK's highest law-making body.. Although the British constitution is not codified, the Supreme Court recognises constitutional principles, [10] and constitutional statutes, [11] which shape the use of political power. There are at least four main ...
Fourth, the British constitution is international: Parliament has consistently augmented its sovereignty and the practical power of British citizens through membership of international bodies, including the International Labour Organization, [70] the United Nations, the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Union, the World Trade ...
The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 imposed constraints on the monarch and it fell to Parliament under the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty to impose its own constitutional conventions involving the people, the monarch (or Secretaries of State in cabinet and Privy Council) and the court system. All of these three groups ...
A convention, also known as a constitutional convention, is an uncodified tradition that is followed by the institutions of a state. In some states, notably those Commonwealth states that follow the Westminster system and whose political systems derive from British constitutional law, most government functions are guided by constitutional convention rather than by a formal written constitution.
Constitutional convention requires that the declaration of war or commitment of British armed forces is authorised by the Prime Minister on behalf of the Crown. Parliament has no official constitutional role in the process. [7] However, ministers are still accountable to Parliament for the actions they take. [8]
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch , currently King Charles III , serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024 , serves as the elected head of government .
The Manual was written as a guide for members of Cabinet, other ministers and civil servants in the execution of government business, but also serves to consolidate many of the previously unwritten constitutional conventions through which the British government operates.