Study sheet: The British Constitution

📋 Course Outline

1. An Uncodified Constitutional System
2. Sources of Constitutional Rules
3. Saxon and Norman Monarchy
4. Magna Carta and Royal Limits

📖 1. An Uncodified Constitutional System

★ Must-know

📌 The British constitution is uncodified because its rules come from multiple sources rather than one comprehensive legal text, unlike the French constitution.

• The British constitutional system developed gradually through history rather than appearing immediately, with periods of acceleration during crises.

• The development of the British constitutional system concerns how political power was gradually developed, organised, and limited among the monarch, Parliament, and the people.

Further detail

• The British system changes throughout its historical development rather than remaining institutionally fixed.

💡 Memory Hook

The UK has an uncodified constitution, unlike France's single legal text.

📖 2. Sources of Constitutional Rules

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Common law : Consists of judicial decisions or jurisprudence that are not statutes but are nevertheless binding.
• Constitutional conventions : Unwritten practices and traditions that explain how the government should function.

★ Must-know

• The system developed through: laws, judicial decisions, political practices by the King and government leaders, conventions, historical documents produced at important moments of crisis

Further detail

• Authoritative works are legal texts written by experts to explain parliamentary procedure.

💡 Memory Hook

L-J-P-C-H: laws, judicial decisions, political practices, conventions, historical documents.

📖 3. Saxon and Norman Monarchy

★ Must-know

• The Saxons were organised in tribes led by a leader and are presented in the course as having created the monarchy system.

📌 The early monarchy was based on divine right but was not hereditary, because kingship was taken by force and the monarch was feared.

• After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror established a strong and powerful monarchy in England.

• Norman kings depended on taxation and on the cooperation of important social groups because barons and other powerful people could form alliances.

Further detail

• A representative institution resembling a parliament developed during the thirteenth century so that the king would not be the only person directing the country.

💡 Memory Hook

Conquest → stronger monarchy → dependence on taxation and cooperation.

📖 4. Magna Carta and Royal Limits

★ Must-know

• King John was authoritarian and capricious, and his conflicts with the barons contributed to their refusal to pay further taxes and their revolt against him.

• In 1215, after King John's defeat and the barons' revolt, he was forced to accept the Magna Carta as a constitutional landmark to restore peace and save his life.

• The Magna Carta originally concerned the privileges of the nobility, who wanted to protect their own privileges.

📌 The Magna Carta introduced the principle that the sovereign is also subject to the law.

Further detail

• The barons had enough power to refuse taxation and form alliances, allowing them to pressure King John into accepting new rules.

💡 Memory Hook

Baronial revolt → Magna Carta → the sovereign becomes subject to law.