Constitutional and Administrative Law Coursework

Constitutional and Administrative Law Coursework

The Constitutional law has existed for hundreds of years in the United Kingdom. There is not a single written constitution in UK, but the body of law exists in the form of a collection of legal instruments. Such instruments have been developed over the years after speculation and debate. In order to assess the practicality of major conventions and to study the existing relationship between both houses of the Parliament, The Joint Committee on Conventions was established in 2006. The convention was also formed to study the role of such conventions in future legislations (Barnett, 2006, pp. 66).

The Committee held its first meeting on 23 May 2006. Lord Cunningham of Felling was appointed the Chairman and its first report was published on 3rd November, 2006. The Constitutional conventions have always played a vital role in the legal system of United Kingdom. The rules decided are observed and studied by the different constituted parties. But, such decisions and observations do not hold any legal authority (Bradley, et. al, 2007, pp. 112). They serve as the underlying enforcing principles which are not codified or formal. Currently, such conventions do not seem to end and continue to provide observations without any legal authority.

Recommendations of the Committee

The final report of the “Joint Committee on Conventions” (2006), clearly suggested that “no legislation should be done to convert the recommendations of the Constitutional convention into laws also the proposed recommendations should continue to exist without any legal bindings”.

The recommendations of the committee (2006), clearly suggest that giving a legal form to the proposed recommendations in the form of laws would result in an immense shift of power between the judiciary and the government. It could also lead to a functional misunderstanding between the institutions of the state and affect the overall harmony between them.

Constitutional Convention

A constitutional convention could be defined as “an uncodified and informal agreement that is followed by the institutions in a State. The states that come under the Commonwealth of Nations and follow the Westminster system are often guided by such Constitutional conventions. Also, the states whose Political systems were derived from the 'British Constitutional law' are guided by such conventions. The governmental functions of such states continue to follow such conventions (Fenwick et. al, 2003, pp. 255).

However, in such states the actual distribution of power may be completely different from the description of the formal constitutional documents (Jennings, 1959, pp. 97). On the other hand, a more formal constitution confers more discretionary powers on the head of state of the government- and often uses such conventions for advice.

Administrative Law

According to Loveland (2003), the Administrative Law in United Kingdom deals with the different legal and complaint mechanisms designed to regulate the relationships between state organizations and the citizens of the country. The administrative or public laws look into the governmental matters that directly affect citizens and the state organisations carrying government business (pp. 26).

Role of Constitutional Conventions in the United Kingdom

The United ...