UK constitutional convention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

UK constitutional convention - Essay Example A constitutional convention is an uncodified or unwritten and an informal procedural agreement, which is followed by institutions in a state. Common wealth states for instance states that they follow the British west minister system of government. A constitutional convention is therefore traditional unwritten laws that form the fundamentals of the written constitution. Most states in the modern world are guided by constitutional conventions instead of the written constitutions1. However, in the states that follow constitutional conventions, they have difference in distribution of powers, which are remarkably different from those that follow formal constitutional documents (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006). Unlike the written constitution, which gives the head of state too much power, constitutional conventions in practice are used only to advice the government. The use of constitutional conventions arose when the exercise of a certain type of power that is not prohibited by law began raising opposition that it became impossible on future instances to take part in additional exercise of these powers. An example of such constitutional convention is that the prime minister of UK cannot continue in office lacking the support of the majority of votes in the House of Commons (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007). Different states have a system whereby they use constitutional conventions only, while others use a system whereby they operate alongside written constitutions. ... They can only be exercised when the parliament or the national assembly passes a decree or constitutional amendment codifying the convention. The above principle UK is viewed as authoritative and acceptable in many other jurisdictions, including the most of the common wealth countries (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005). Constitutional conventions are not always acceptable due to various reasons. One prominent reason is that they keep on changing overtime as compared to written laws that would require concept and a constitutional amendment. For instance in the UK, the British parliament requested a parliament dissolution from the monarch. Since then, the prime minister in the UK can decide to dissolve the government on his own without consulting the queen. It is of prime importance to note that constitutional conventions have played a huge role in promoting democracy2. This is because they promote equality in the decisions that an individual can make over the other. They also all ow citizens to participate equally in direct representation or through representative democracy (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2004). According to The Economist Intelligence Unit (2003), constitutional conventions have been known to play a major role to promote democracy. UK has the highest number of constitutional conventions unlike other nations since the majority of its laws are not written. The countries constitutional conventions provide key rules and guidelines for the country’s constitution. These conventions add to, or take away from, in at times dramatic was. One of the main conventions in UK includes the convention of individual ministry responsibilities. The unwritten