the english system

Materie:	Tesina
Categoria:	Inglese
Download:	96
Data:	01.06.2005
Numero di pagine:	4
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Britain is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy based on the principle that the people have the right to choose their representatives, who will sit in the parliament and legislate for the nation.
Britain does not have a written constitution but a set of laws that have been developed1 since the Magna Carta (1215) up to the present, side by side with the growth of power of Parliament itself.
The British Parliament is made up of three components: the monarch, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The monarch is the official head of the Parliament, head of executive, head of judiciary, head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces and supreme governor of the Church of England. He/she reigns but does not rule in England. Nevertheless, he/she can perform some important executive and legislative duties as opening and dissolving the Parliament, signing bills2 which have been passed by both Houses (the Royal Assent), holding audiences3 with the Prime Minister and carrying out4 international duties as head of state. He/she is expected to be politically neutral, in fact he/she acts only on the advice of political ministers and cannot make laws, impose taxes, spend public money or act unilaterally. The succession to the throne is hereditary but only for Protestants in the direct line of descent. The actual sovereign is Queen Elisabeth II, who was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953.
The parliament is composed by two Houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The House of Lords (or Upper House), presided over5 by the Lord Chancellor, has no real power and can suggest only amendments to a bill proposed by the Commons. This House is a peculiar feature of the British parliamentary system: its members are not elected, they are either Lords Temporal (lay peers6) or Lords Spiritual (archbishops and bishops).
The House of Commons (or Lower House) consists of Members of Parliament (659 members (MPs) after the elections in 1997) who are elected by the British people in general elections which are held at least every five years (but in practice it is the Prime Minister who chooses the best moment for a new election). Its functions are legislation and scrutiny of government activities. The person who controls discussion in this House, supervises voting and announces the final result is the Speaker (who is appointed by the government after consultation with the leader of the Opposition).
General elections are held by secret ballot, but voting is not compulsory 7 in Britain, where you can vote if you are resident in Britain, aged 18 or over, registered in a constituency8 and not subject to disqualification9. Each political party puts up a candidate10 for each constituency and the one who wins more votes is elected MP for that area (simple majority system or “first past the post” system).
Thanks to the British electoral system there are few political parties in Britain. The main ones are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. In recent years the Green Party has gained a good number of votes but very few seats. Other smaller parties are also represented in the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister (PM) is the actual head of the government and he/she is officially appointed11 by the sovereign. When the leader of the party who wins the election is made Prime Minister, his/her first job is to choose his Cabinet, consisting of the most important ministers in the government. He/she usually sits in the Commons and takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet. In theory he/she should be just the monarch’s political servant, in practice he/she has become an extremely powerful person, like an all powerful president.
At the moment Tony Blair has the power. He is a Labourist and he is Prime Minister since 1997.
The PM lives, for the period of the government, at 10, Downing Street in London.

JUSTICE

There are no criminal code and no civil code in Britain. The main sources12 of law are common law, Government legislation and now also European Union law.
There is no Ministry of Justice either. The Office of the Lord Chancellor oversees13 the appointment of judges and magistrates, while the Home Office is entrusted with14 the administration of prisons and the supervision of the police.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have different legal systems from England and Wales.
1 to develop: sviluppare
2 to sign the bills: firmare i disegni di legge
3 to hold an audience: tenere un’udienza
4 to carry out: eseguire
5 to preside over: presiedere
6 lay peer: pari laico
7 compulsory: obbligatorio
8 constituency: collegio elettorale
9 disqualification: interdizione
10 to put up a candidate: nominare un candidato
11 to be appointed: essere nominato
12 sources: codici d’origine, fonti
13 to oversee: sovraintendere
14 to be entrusted with: avere in affidamento
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