Britain Notes 02/05/09

Courts
- no court has the power of judicial review
- British courts see if laws contradict treaties or not
-Law Lords: highest court of appeals- still don't have the power of judicial review
-Ex of how they handle issues: [2004] Law lords rules 8:1 that the anti-terrorism law (authorizing detaining terroritst without trial legal) conflicted with the European Union Laws.
-Parliament has final say
-Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years, but may be called sooner [May 2010 is next mandatory election]

Executive Branch
Queen/Monarch/Soveriegn
-head of executive branch
-part of crown-in-parliament
-head of state
-commander and chief of armed forces
-head of church of England
-all powers are excercised through the Prime Minister
-gives royal assent- necessary before a bill becomes a law. Since 1707 the Queen has never said no to a prime minister's opinion on a bill
-Can also refuse a request from the prime minister to dissolve parliament. No Queen since the 1800s has disagreed
-Queens can pick the Prime Minister if it is unclear who the dominant party is or if the majority party didn't have a clear recognized leader.
-In practice, the Prime Minister names the Cabinet and write the Queens "innaguaral" speech.

Prime Minister
- head of government
-head of majority party in the House of Commons
-uses patronage to assign 20 cabinet positions and appoints 100 other high ranking executive positions ( front bench positions)
-Front Bench Positions- when the House of Commons meets, the important people such as, the cabinet ministers or senior ministers, along with the prime minister, sit on the front bench.
-speaks in parliamentary debates on major issues
-appears for questioning in the House Of Commons weekly- on wednesdays
-object of partisan controversey and media attention
-must win election of political party leader
-policy leader of government- maintaining sense of direction of appointed cabinets
-Prime minister talks the business
-Chairs cabinet meetings and is a cabinet spokesperson
-Selects the rest of the cabinet (mainly members of Parliament and all but a handful are from the House of Commons)
-Recent count: Cabinet- 22 members; 20 from the House of Commons, 2 from the House of Lords

Legislative Branch
-policy made by cabinet
-Prime minister and Cabinet is referred to as government
-Prime Minister and Cabinet can make votes of Confidence
-If it is a Vote of Confidence the majority party must vote for the bill
-If the majority party doesn't agree with the vote of confidence, parliament would be dissolved and the Prime minster and Cabinet would resign
- The Majority party not agreeing with the vote of confidence runs the risk of the minority party taking over in the next election
-Free vote- members can vote any way they want

House of Lords
-minimal influence on policy
3 Types of Lords:
(1) Hereditary peers- can't vote
(2) Life peers- Anglican entertainers and church officials appointed by the prime minister
(3) Law Lords- highest court of appeals but can't rule parliament unconstitutional
-House of lords can only approve bills, propose ammendments, and slow down passage
-Most forceful thing the House of Lords can do is force the House of Commons to pass the same bill twice
- Some say the House of Lords should become an electoral body (under discussion)