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UK has no (codified) constitution. They can just write whatever weird shit they want and call it law, for the most part. Parliamentary sovereignty is often see
by CameronNemo 3y ago
UK has no (codified) constitution. They can just write whatever weird shit they want and call it law, for the most part.
Parliamentary sovereignty is often seen as a central element in the British constitution, although its extent is contested. It means that an Act of Parliament is the highest form of law, but also that "Parliament cannot bind itself".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_Kin...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- chris_wot 3y agoTo be fair, a constitution doesn't seem to prevent weird and perverse laws. Look at Florida.
- smegsicle 3y ago[flagged]
- midoridensha 3y agoNothing is perfect. A constitution is there as a mechanism to make it harder to pass weird and perverse laws that are inconsistent with the state's values. But if the voters keep electing people who work to weaken the constitution or to amend it (or replace it altogether), it'll happen eventually. A lot of things in modern democracies, or even older ones (like the US's federal constitution) are really there to act as roadblocks and prevent a simple majority of voters from electing some shitty politicians who make wild changes in the law. It's a bit like that scene in "Alien" when Sigourney wants to blow up the Nostromo, and has to go through a ridiculous process of flipping switches and raising and turning and lowering some metal cylinders inside a control panel in the floor: blowing up the ship doesn't really need all that stuff, but it's just there to make it hard to do quickly and easily.
- chris_wot 3y agoThe principles of Parliamentary Sovereignty, Rule of Law, Democracy and Internationalism are all mechanisms used to also ensure that laws must be consistent with the state's values.
- CameronNemo 3y agoI dunno. Parliamentary systems are supremely malleable. Look at what is happening in Israel.
- midoridensha 3y agoI don't think Israel, a theocracy, is representative of parliamentary systems. Almost all of Europe is governed by parliamentary systems, and most of the EU countries are fine.
- anonymous_sorry 3y ago>A lot of things in modern democracies, or even older ones (like the US's federal constitution) are really there to act as roadblocks and prevent a simple majority of voters from electing some shitty politicians who make wild changes in the law I wonder if this creates a feeling among voters that it is OK or even desirable to vote for batshit politicians, because they'll be constrained by the constitution and "nothing ever changes anyway". And then those politicians decry the constraining checks and balances as the "deep state" or "the blob".
- CrazyPyroLinux 3y agoThe "deep state" was never meant to be part of the checks and balances; it was meant to be prevented by such. Yet Hobbes's Leviathan grows unchecked.
- CrazyPyroLinux 3y agoLook at the federal gov.
- niemandhier 3y agoI thought according paragraph 61 of the Magna Carta the 25 Barons are expected to declare them selve in rebellion as a control mechanism. A fringe group of modern day commonwealth citizens construct quite elaborate fantasies based on that: https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2020/12/04/magna-carta-and-freemen-on-the-land/amp/ https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2020/12/04/magna-carta-and-fre...
- mnw21cam 3y agoMost the Magna Carta has been repealed by now and replaced with newer laws more appropriate for modern times.