Nations, Regions and Local Democracy

This chapter talks about Sir Ivor Jennings, who observed in the context of decolonization in the 1950s that one must first decide who are the people before one can decide how the people are to govern themselves. It proposes a constitutional renewal project that must recognize the United Kingdom as a complex 'Union state' made up of distinct nations. It also describes the United Kingdom as a messy amalgam of two kingdoms, a principality, and a dismembered province that were forged together by civil wars, bribery, and dynastic wrangling. The chapter looks at the geographical, cultural, historical, and demographic complexity of the polity being constituted that will determine much of its constitutional architecture even when fairly standard Westminster Model constitutionalism is applied. It illustrates India and Bangladesh, two countries whose constitutions are thoroughly Westminster influenced but show different design because of the demands of context.

Rediscovering Britain’s Wider Constitutional Tradition

This chapter attempts to identify the deep constitutional crisis of the British body-politic and introduce a remedy in the form of new constitutional settlement founded upon a written constitution. It explains the 'unwritten constitution', which grew up over the centuries from a hotchpotch of statutes, judicial decisions, disputed conventions, and half-remembered traditions has reached the end of its useful life. It also emphasizes the revival of the British democracy through a written constitution, a supreme and fundamental law that is founded upon a broad political and societal consensus. The chapter reviews constitutional proposals that reflect the 'Charter 88 agenda', which has motivated constitutional reformers in Britain for the last three decades. It responds to the new constitutional crisis that was unanticipated by the reformers of the pre-1997 era.

Towards a Written Constitution

This chapter makes a case for a new written constitution. It introduces a possible definition of a constitution that was suggested by Lord Bolingbroke in 1733, which states that the constitution is whole assemblage of laws, institutions, traditions, customs and practices that embody how Britain is governed. It also provides another definition that looks at the British constitution in terms of the Hanoverian settlement, which was altered by subsequent statutes and conventions. The chapter emphasizes how a written constitution does not need to be contained in one document but must have a bounded set of such laws that are distinguished from other laws and whose status as the supreme and fundamental law is known, declared and explicit. It cites Canada's constitution, which includes the Constitution Act 1867, the Constitution Act 1982, and a list of other statutes and orders-in-council specified in a schedule to the 1982 Act.

The Decline and Fall of the British Constitution

This chapter diagnoses Britain's constitutional crisis and sets it in historical context. It traces the decline and fall of the British constitution over the space of 80 years, from its Churchillian triumph, through new challenges it could not meet and reforms that were not equal to the task, to its current Johnsonian catastrophe. It also describes Britain's current constitutional crisis as the final unravelling of what might be termed the 'Hanoverian constitutional settlement'. The chapter mentions the Hanoverian monarchs who kept the system of constitutional settlement until it defined the constitutional order in which British democracy grew and flourished several decades later. It explains the constitutional nature of the Hanoverian constitutional settlement as it represented a strategic agreement between all then-relevant institutional, political, and social groups.

Parliament II: Privileges, Organization and Procedures

This chapter delves into the privileges of parliament as an integral part of the Westminster System, going back to Article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689. It lists freedom of speech, the immunity of members from legal liability for statements made in the House, and the freedom of each House to order its own affairs without interference by the Crown as the privileges of Parliament. It also refers to Westminster Model constitutions that replicate privileges in the parliament by directly specifying and enumerating them in the constitution, or by conferring on parliament the power to determine its own privileges. The chapter cites the Constitution of Trinidad & Tobago as a typical example that applies the privileges of the House of Commons. It discusses how the constitution gives parliament the power to prescribe the powers, privileges, and immunities of each House.

Parliament I: Functions, Powers and Composition

This chapter focuses on Westminster Model constitutions around the world that prescribe the composition of parliament, such as the manner in which members are chosen, qualifications and disqualifications for being a member, and their terms of office. It highlights the functions that a parliament is expected to perform in a Westminster Model democracy by synthesizing several classic authorities, namely Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution. It also mentions Sir Ivor Jennings' Parliament, which outlines seven main functions of parliament. The chapter explains how parliament in a Westminster Model democracy does not actively govern, but it does make and break governments. It examines the parliamentary duty to determine who will have the authority to make decisions or conditions on policy making.