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LAW/POLITICS : What are the ADVANTAGES of an UNWRITTEN constitution?

TOD100

I'm completely stuck for a starting point here. Where would you start?

Reply 1

Joanna May

It's flexible and can adapt to changes as necessary. An example you could use is that it took far less time for black rights to be brought in in the UK than it did in the US, since they have a lot more hurdles for bills to overcome.

A fusion of powers could be said to give more of a balance, as people know what they're talking about and so are more able to hold other departments to account. With a separation of powers, although the judiciary or legislature are 'unbiased', they don't know enough about say the Ministry of Agriculture to hold that department fully to account.

Basically, just think of any disadvantage and put a spin on it to make it positive. That's what Politics is, after all :wink:

Reply 2

Vesta

If you mean an uncodified constitution (which is unwritten):

1) Can be easily amended to keep up with society's changes. Unlike codified constitutions (which are written and therefore entrenched), there is no set-in-stone special procedure for the amendment of the constitution, it is changed similarly to any statute law (majority in HoC, approval of HoL and monarch). However in the US for example, they need a 2/3rds majority in Congress then 3/4 of states must approve. So as you can see, the amendment is much tougher in the US where it is codified. Uncodified/unwritten constitutions are therefore more flexible and easily adaptable.

2) The unelected judiciary have no key political/constitutional role. Only the elected Parliament can decide on the constitutionality of laws/actions.

3) Produces a strong government that can make key changes if necessary.

4) No law has historical precendence over another; "constitutional" laws and statute laws hold the same importance

This is just what we've covered in the AS unit 2 course :redface:

Reply 3

The West Wing

The British constitution is written (partly), just in lots of different documents, so the word "unwritten" is wholly inaccurate; and "uncodified" _must_ be used in its place.

Advantages:

Flexible, adapts to change, allows for enumeration of rights in times of peace and their withdrawal in times of war, not product of history, allows radical changes such as devolution without taking decades/centuries as it does in some countries.

Disadvantages:

No formal protection of rights, easily changed by over legislating governments such as Labour 97-present, leads to constitutional crises, no distinction of roles of various branches of government, can be abused, harder to understand.

Reply 4

Joanna May

Vesta

4) No law has historical precendence over another; "constitutional" laws and statute laws hold the same importance

I would see that more as a negative. The fact that levels of superiority vary greatly across the board means that it gets very difficult to judge where the law has been broken, or where it has simply been misinterpreted. A codified constitution offers clear 'levels' of superiority, whereas an uncodified one doesn't. I don't really see how you can turn that into a positive thing really. Feel free to have a go, but it's far easier to stick to simpler points than tangle yourself up.

Reply 5

Vesta

Joanna May

Fair enough, I see where you're getting at. I just kinda thought it enhanced equality of legislation etc but you're right, e.g. not wearing a seatbelt is not the same as doing something very unconstitutional.

Reply 6

Mos Def

You can say how USA had to spread many referendums to get the terror law changed, whereas Blair didn't have much trouble changing ours post 9/11 as ours is uncodified.

Reply 7

Joanna May

Vesta

I think it would have been a good point a few years ago, but since the EU came into the picture it sort of becomes a very hard point to justify. Like I said, if you can explain it well and make it sound reasonable, it's by no means wrong.

It just seems that by mentioning this as an advantage, you deprive yourself of a really, really good disadvantage that comes with strong examples (the EU, Factortame..). It's just my opinion though, so feel free to ignore me :smile:

Reply 8

Vesta

Joanna May

Apart from the fact that EU laws take precedence over British (unwritten) laws, is there any other reason why it is different now than it was a few years ago?

Reply 9

Joanna May

Vesta

Apart from the fact that EU laws take precedence over British (unwritten) laws, is there any other reason why it is different now than it was a few years ago?

No. It's just the sheer number of EU directives that can claim superiority over statute law that make your original point a hard one to back up. It's a lot easier to take superiority and make it a disadvantage of an uncodified constitution than the other way around.

Reply 10

Vesta

Joanna May

Thanks

Reply 11

TOD100

So how would you structure an essay if the title was :

'What are the advantages of the unwritten British Constitution' ?

I don't know what to include....the page limit is one side of A4 point12 Arial so that doesn't allow for much.

Do I talk about Sources of the constitution, Parliamentary supremacy, doctrine of implied repeal etc etc!?

Cheers

anybody?

Throw in some comparitive Law i.e. UK has flexibility in amending the constitution as opposed to the US.

Reply 14

Joanna May

TOD100

So how would you structure an essay if the title was :

'What are the advantages of the unwritten British Constitution' ?

This whole thread has been answering that VERY question. Read what has been mentioned above.

Reply 15

TOD100

it's been dealing with advantages and disadvantages not a structure for an essay

Reply 16

Joanna May

TOD100

it's been dealing with advantages and disadvantages not a structure for an essay

If you're doing a law degree and you can't structure an essay competently, I'd question what went wrong...

EDIT: I'll amend my post then, since someone neg repped me and called me an idiot for confusing the person I quoted with Vesta, who is doing AS Politics.