What's Wrong with the British Constitution? - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook What's Wrong with the British Constitution? write by Iain McLean. This book was released on 2010. What's Wrong with the British Constitution? available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A bravura critique of the traditional interpretation of the British constitution. The book demolishes many of the myths surrounding it, but also goes on to suggest a constructive alternative.
What's Wrong with the British Constitution?
What's Wrong with the British Constitution? - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook What's Wrong with the British Constitution? write by Iain McLean. This book was released on 2009-11-12. What's Wrong with the British Constitution? available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In this provocative new study, Iain McLean argues that the traditional story of the British constitution does not make sense. It purports to be both positive and normative: that is, to describe both how people actually behave and how they ought to behave. In fact, it fails to do either; it is not a correct description and it has no persuasive force. The book goes on to offer a reasoned alternative. The position that still dominates the field of constitutional law is that of parliamentary sovereignty (or supremacy). According to this view, the supreme lawgiver in the United Kingdom is Parliament. Some writers in this tradition go on to insist that Parliament in turn derives its authority from the people, because the people elect Parliament. An obvious problem with this view is that Parliament, to a lawyer, comprises three houses: monarch, Lords, and Commons. The people elect only one of those three houses. This book aims to show, contrary to the prevailing view, that the UK exists by virtue of a constitutional contract between two previously independent states. Professor McLean argues that the work of the influential constitutional theorist A.V. Dicey has little to offer those who really want to understand the nature of the constitution. Instead, greater understanding can be gleaned from considering the 'veto plays' and 'credible threats' available to politicians since 1707. He suggests that the idea that the people are sovereign dates back to the 17th century (maybe the 14th in Scotland), but has gone underground in English constitutional writing. He goes on to show that devolution and the UK's relationship with the rest of Europe have taken the UK along a constitutionalist road since 1972, and perhaps since 1920. He concludes that no intellectually defensible case can be made for retaining an unelected house of Parliament, an unelected head of state, or an established church. The book will be essential reading for political scientists, constitutional lawyers, historians, and politicians alike.
The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction
The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction write by Martin Loughlin. This book was released on 2013-04-25. The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The British constitution is regarded as unique among the constitutions of the world. What are the main characteristics of Britain's peculiar constitutional arrangements? How has the British constitution altered in response to the changing nature of its state - from England, to Britain, to the United Kingdom? What impact has the UK's developing relations with the European Union caused? These are some of the questions that Martin Loughlin addresses in this Very Short Introduction. As a constitution, it is one that has grown organically in response to changes in the economic, political, and social environment, and which is not contained in a single authoritative text. By considering the nature and authority of the current British constitution, and placing it in the context of others, Loughlin considers how the traditional idea of a constitution came to be retained, what problems have been generated as a result of adapting a traditional approach in a modern political world, looking at what the future prospects for the British constitution are. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
What's Wrong with the British Constitution?
What's Wrong with the British Constitution? - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook What's Wrong with the British Constitution? write by Iain McLean. This book was released on 2009. What's Wrong with the British Constitution? available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This is a bravura critique of the traditional interpretation of the British constitution. The book demolishes many of the myths surrounding it, but also goes on to suggest a constructive alternative.
The British Constitution
The British Constitution - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The British Constitution write by Anthony King. This book was released on 2007. The British Constitution available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In the latter part of the nineteenth century Walter Bagehot wrote a classic account of the British constitution as it had developed during Queen Victoria's reign. He argued that the late Victorian constitution was not at all what people thought it was. Anthony King argues that the same is true at the beginning of this century. Most people are aware that a series of major constitutional changes has taken place, but few recognize that their cumulative effect has been to change entirely the nature of Britain's constitutional structure. The old constitution has gone. The author insists that the new constitution is a mess, but one that we should probably try to make the best of. The British Constitution is neither a reference book nor a textbook. Like Bagehot's classic, it is written with wit and mordant humour - by someone who is a journalist and political commentator as well as a distinguished academic. The author maintains that, although the new British constitution is a mess, there is no going back now. 'As always', he says, 'nostalgia is a good companion but a bad guide.' Highly charged issues that remain to be settled concern the relations between Scotland and England and the future of the House of Lords. A reformed House of Lords, the author fears, could wind up comprising 'a miscellaneous assemblage of party hacks, political careerists, clapped-out retired or defeated MPs, has-beens, never-were's and never-could-possibly-be's'. The book is a Bagehot for the twenty-first century - the product of a lifetime's reflection on British politics and essential reading for anyone interested in how the British system has changed and how it is likely to change in future
