United Kingdom Constitutional History

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The constitutional history of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is one of the oldest and most eventful of the states that still exist today.

Constitutional Development of the Kingdom of England

At the beginning of the 17th century, James I of the House of Stuart came into conflict with Parliament because of his absolutist ideas. Although he was bound by the Common Law and the Magna Carta of 1215 as well as a nearly 300-year history of the participation of the English Parliament , he tried to enforce an unconditional royal rule according to the ideas of the time.

The open conflict did not arise until under his successor Karl I. Although parliament had tax and budget sovereignty, Karl repeatedly single-handedly issued fiscal decrees to get the desolate state finances under control. This action by the Crown led to the Petition of Right of 1628 . In it, the parliamentarians accused their king of various offenses and derived general rights from them. Charles I saw himself bound by the tradition of common law on the one hand, and on the other hand he saw the (financial) necessity to cooperate with parliament. So he had to apologize and sign the Petition of Right.

In 1642 the Civil War broke out, from which Oliver Cromwell emerged victorious. He fought together with the Puritans and the petty nobles ("Commons") against the Lords and the King. A brief republican phase followed between 1649 and 1660, although it was de facto a military dictatorship of Cromwell (title: Lord Protector).

From 1660, Charles II and Jacob II ruled two other Stuarts , which, however, lost a lot of power compared to parliament. The civil war had cost a lot of money and the state finances were still in poor shape. From this position the parliament managed to wrest further rights from the crown. The Habeas Corpus Act (especially procedural guarantees) was passed in 1679 . After the so-called "Glorious Revolution" in 1689, the Bill of Rights laid down fundamental rights for parliament vis-à-vis the monarch. This created the constitutional monarchy . In order to secure the Protestant succession, the Hanoverian succession to the throne was established by the Act of Settlement 1701 and thus the link between the crown and parliament was further expanded.

Parliamentary monarchy

Great Britain has been a parliamentary monarchy since the middle of the 19th century , even if universal suffrage was not realized in the 19th century despite several electoral reform laws (1832, 1867, 1884/85). The gradual expansion of suffrage increasingly strengthened the popularly elected House of Commons over against the Crown and Lords . This process took place against the background of a civil society proud of British freedoms, based on a tradition since the Magna Carta (1215) and the Bill of Rights ("free speech"). Since the late 19th century, the asymmetrical role of both houses in the bicameral parliament, as we know today, developed from several conflicts of competence between the lower and upper houses . Universal voting was not introduced in Great Britain until 1918 and 1928 (for all adult women).

British constitutional history is that of the emergence of modern parliamentarism . It is characteristic that crises of the monarchy (e.g. desolate state finances) together with the commitment of the crown to common law always offered parliament the opportunity to expand power. On the other hand, British constitutional history is also characterized by identification with the crown. It is a symbolic, identity-creating institution.

Changes at the end of the 20th century

Important changes brought during Tony Blair's first term of office the partial autonomy of the parts of the country of the United Kingdom and London ( Greater London Authority ) as well as the creation of regional parliaments, which are also planned within England. The relevant provisions are set out in the Scotland Act ( Scottish Parliament ), Government of Wales Act ( National Assembly for Wales ), Northern Ireland Act (1998) and the Good Friday Agreement (1998).

The Human Rights Act 1998 merely makes the formal legal adjustment of the United Kingdom to the European Convention on Human Rights . On the other hand, the House of Lords Act 1999 means a fundamental change in the legislature , insofar as the heredity of a large part of the seats for one chamber within the two-chamber system is finally abolished.

See also

literature

  • Hans Setzer: Electoral system and party development in England. Ways to Democratize Institutions 1832-1948 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / Main 1973 ISBN 3-518-00664-9 .
  • Dominik Nagl: No Part of the Mother Country, but Distinct Dominions Legal Transfer, State Building and Governance in England, Massachusetts and South Carolina, 1630–1769. LIT, Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-11817-2 . [1]
  • Niedhart, Gottfried: Great Britain , in: P. Brandt et al. (Ed.): Handbook of European Constitutional History in the 19th Century, Volume 1: Around 1800. Dietz, Bonn 2006, pp. 165–211.
  • Kraus, Hans-Christof: Great Britain , in: W. Daum et al. (Ed.): Handbook of European Constitutional History in the 19th Century, Volume 2: 1815–1847. Dietz, Bonn 2012, pp. 209-263.
  • Neuheiser, Jörg et al: Great Britain and Ireland , in: W. Daum et al. (Ed.): Handbook of European constitutional history in the 19th century, volume. 3: 1848-1870. Dietz, Bonn 2020, pp. 171–212.
  • Kluxen, Kurt: History and problems of parliamentarism . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1983.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Daum (Ed.): Handbook of European Constitutional History in the 19th Century, Volumes 1-3, Chapter on Great Britain (see literature).