Great Britain: constitution. Politics. Law (стр. 2 из 2)

How a bill becomes a law.

Members of the House of Lords (peers) are not elected at present. Until 1999 they were mostly “hereditary peers” because their fathers had been peers before them. Now only 91 out of about 700 peers are hereditary: the rest are “life peers” who cannot pass on their titles, senior judges (Law Lords) and Church of England Archbishops and Bishops (Lords Spiritual).

Elections. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies (избирательный округ), each with an electorate of about 60,000 voters. Each British citizen over eighteen has the vote (although voting is not compulsory). Each constituency is represented by one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Any number of candidates can stand for election in each constituency. The main political parties are usually represented, and sometimes candidates representing minority parties also stand. The winner is the candidate who gets more votes than any other single candidate, even if the difference is only one vote. This “first past the post” system is clear, familiar and simple, but it means that the candidate who comes second gets nothing.

The leader of the party with most seats becomes Prime Minister and forms a Government, which can remain in power for up to five years unless the Prime Minister decides to hold an earlier election. The second biggest party becomes the official Opposition. Its leader forms a “Shadow Cabinet”. Since 1945 the Conservatives and Labour have been either the Government or the Opposition.

In the 1980s, British politics was dominated by Margaret Thatcher: she was Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, leader of the ruling Conservative Party and the longest-serving Prime Minister in the 20th century. Under Thatcher, it was Conservative policy to return state-owned industries to private ownership, cut taxation and control inflation. In 1997 her successor John Major was beaten by Tony Blair of Labour.

Breaking Conservative and Labour dominance. In 1981 a new party was formed to try to break the dominance of Conservative and Labour. Some Conservative and Labour MPs left their own parties to join the new Social Democrats. The new party then agreed to fight elections in alliance with the small but long-established Liberals, forming the Alliance. In 1987 the two parties of the Alliance agreed to merge to form a new party, the Liberal Democrats, although some Social Democrats preferred to remain independent.

The election timetable. A British government is elected for up to five years, unless it is defeated in Parliament on a major issue. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election, but does not have to wait until the end of the five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party. The date is announced to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament. Once Parliament is dissolved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function. Party manifestos are published and campaigning begins throughout the country, lasting for about three weeks with large-scale press, radio and television coverage. Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday). The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes have been counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest. As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government.

The Prime Minister, or leader of the Government, is also an MP, usually the leader of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.

The Government. Functions of the Prime Minister:

· leading the majority party;

· running the Government;

· appointing Cabinet Ministers and other ministers;

· representing the nation in political matters.

The Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers. The Cabinet includes the ministers in charge of major government departments or ministries. Departments and ministries are run by civil servants (гос. служащий), who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.

The legal system. British law comes from two main sources: laws made in Parliament (usually drawn up by government departments and lawyers), and Common Law (общее право), which is based on previous judgements and customs. Just as there is no written constitution, so England and Wales have no criminal code or civil code and the interpretation of the law is based on what has happened in the past. The laws which are made in Parliament are interpreted by the courts, but changes in the law itself are made in Parliament.

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates' court (магистратский суд, мировой суд). There are 700 magistrates' courts and about 30,000 magistrates. More serious criminal cases then go to the Crown Court (Суд короны (уголовное отделение Высокого суда правосудия), which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County courts (суд графства). Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example, appeals from magistrates' courts are heard in the Crown Court, unless they are appeals on points of law. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. (Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh which hears all appeals from Scottish courts). Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Articles

1. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Великобритания

2. http://www.britannia.com/history/

3. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/Default.aspx

4. http://www.great-britain.co.uk/history/history.htm

5. http://www.greatbritain.ru/