The Codified And Uncodified Constitution

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A constitution is a fundamental building block in any nation’s government foundation; it establishes the relationship between the government and the governed, highlighting the principles of the state and the organisation of the different branches in which we are managed and maintained. As a collection of statute law, common law, conventions, European treaties and laws and works of authority, each of these different sources that contribute to the constitution are processed and regulated in extremely different ways. A constitution is found in two ways; uncodified or codified, codified being the placement of all laws and statutes in one place such as the US constitution and uncodified being a collection of laws and statutes that aren’t compiled …show more content…

Remaining uncodified is a result of two main things: A codified constitution is usually the result of massive, constitutional change which our nation has not seen since the time of 1066 when we briefly became a republic with the abolishment of the monarchy. Therefore a codified constitution has never been seen as desirable nor needed in any capacity. The other main resulting factor of the United Kingdom’s Decision to never compact the constitution is the fact that an uncodified constitution is ultimately easier to change and develop, whereas a codified constitution would need super majority of over two thirds of parliament to alter the laws or amendments, resulting in a less flexible government in a quickly changing time of society. More recently, there has been many campaigns in support of a codified constitution by the lib Dems and a pressure group called unlock democracy with the prime focus of creating a more democratic and modern way of managing the country and reincorporating checks and balances into the …show more content…

The need for a constitution has never arisen during the United Kingdom history unlike the USAs Constitution which was desperately needed when the British colonies of North America finally became the United States of America, seen as no major event has forced us into a position of massive constitutional change, codifying the constitution can be rightfully deemed an unnecessary task. Although support for a codified constitution is limited in the United Kingdom, we move closer to this system as recently the European convention human rights forces us into a position where we cannot opt out of its regulations due to it not affecting our own constitution, unlike other member states of the EU where regulations deemed as unconstitutional can be omitted from the agreement, creating a situation where we are governing less of our own laws and losing our authority to an outside government known as the European parliament. Other recent approaches to a codified constitution include the agreement made by the coalition parliament in 2010; which overall tried to increase the democratic way in which the country is governed, by not only proposing a five year fix term but

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