By: Md. Zubair Kasem Khan.

Master of Comparative Laws(MCL)Matric No.: G1110969.

International Islamic University Malaysia.

Unitary Government

Definition of Unitary Form of Government.

Characteristics of Unitary form of

Government.

Structural Characteristics of United Kingdom.

Variants that can be identified among Unitary.

Governments.

Contents of the Presentation:

 A Unitary Government may be defined as one in which the powers are concentrated in the hands of a Central Government. There may be local governments, but they are not free from the control of the central government. They are the creation or derive their powers from the central government.

In other words, the governments of the constituent unite ultimately derives their authority from the central Government. The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Switzerland etc are the examples of a unitary form of country.

 

Unitary Government:

In a Unitary form of Govt. there is no division of constitutional powers, except that there may be the delegation of authority by the central government to the local one.

The central government holds the supreme authority.

 A unitary government may have unwritten and flexible constitution.

The judiciary in the unitary form, does not possess any powers to administer the government, decides disputes that may crop up between the central and provincial governments.

Characteristics of Unitary system of Government:

Structural Characteristics of United Kingdom

Great Britain is a Constitutional Monarchy and a Parliamentary Democracy. The type of constitution is Unitary in nature. There is no single document that represents as codified provisions of a complte Constitution. That’s why, the UK is considered as the unique of having unwritten constitution in the world.

 

Form of government

Head of the State = = => The Monarch (Queen).Head of the Government= = =>

Her Majesty's Government (The Prime Minister).The Executive powers: The Prime Minister (on

behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch), as well as by the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executives.

The Legislative power: It vested in two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom(the House of Commons and the House of Lords), as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies.

The Judiciary: it is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Distribution of Powers.

Structure of the Parliament... The British Parliament is Bicameral, that is there are two

houses or chambers The House of Commons and the House of Lords, together with the Monarch, make up Parliament. Parliament passes laws, approves taxation and debates the major issues of the day.

The Monarch # The Queen Elizabeth-II,

The House of Lords #(Not fixed)currently there are around 830 members.

The House of Commons # comprises 650 Members of Parliament(MP).

Much of the work of Parliament is done in Committees rather than on the floor of the chamber. The House of Commons has two types of committee:

Select Committees : Select Committees are appointed for the lifetime of a Parliament, 'SHADOW' the work of a particular Government Department, conduct investigations, receive written and oral evidence, and issue reports. Membership is made up only of backbenchers and reflects proportionately the balance of the parties in the Commons.

General Committees or Standing Committees: General Committees are temporary bodies, most of them Public Bill Committees, formed to examine the detail of a particular piece of proposed legislation and consider amendments to the Bill.

Finally there are some Joint Committees of the Commons and

the Lords.

Continuing…

The difficulty raises in having an unwritten constitution is that, there is no single document which sets out how the state works and where the powers lies. Instead, we must consider a variety of sources which provide the rules governing how the state should operate.

An Unwritten Constitution…

Ordinary Sources.

Constitutional Statutes.

Constitutional Cases.

Special Sources.

Constitutional

Conventions.

Royal Prerogative.

The Constitution.

Ordinary Sources:Ordinary sources are those rules which also have application in other areas of law. It can be classified under two heads-

Constitutional Statutes: Although the constitution of the UK is “UNWRITTEN”, the existence of Constitutional Statutes means that there are a large number of sources of constitutional law(Acts of Parliament) which are, indeed, written. Such Acts may set out specific powers of the state or, alternatively, provide protections for the citizen. Some Constitutional Statutes are- Act of Union with Scotland 1707; Bill of Rights 1689

Constitutional Cases/Common Law: The role of the common law within the Constitution means that, there are constitutional issues where the courts seek to restrict the powers of the state. Some cases are-

Entick Vs. Carrington (1765) 19 State 1029

Duport Steel Ltd. And others Vs. Sirs and others (1980) 1 All ER 529.

Congreve Vs. Home Office (1976) QB 629.

Continuing…

Special Sources:Specific sources of law refers those sources of law which are particular to Constitutional and Administrative Law. The key to understanding how they operate is to recognize that, their origins lie, not in Parliament, but in the History Of England. These sources are-

Royal Prerogative: This was defined by Dicey as “ the residue of discretionary or arbitrary authority…..legally left in the Crown…..the remaining portion of the Crown’s original authority (See Dicey 1885). This can be put into two categories such as-Foreign Prerogatives: Ratify & Make Treaties, Declare & War Peace Domestic Prerogatives: Appoint a Prime Minister, Grant Honors…

Constitutional Conventions: These are Customs Or Historical Practices which determine what will happen in certain circumstances. As with Royal Prerogative, Conventions are Not Enforceable by the Courts and so are described as “Non-legal” rules.

Continuing…

In considering how the constitution of UK operates, there are a number of general themes or principles that must be recognized which includes-

The Parliamentary Sovereignty,

The Separation of Powers and

The Rule of Law.

The Basic Principles of the UK Constitution.

The Parliamentary SovereigntyThe most common applied definition of Parliamentary Sovereignty comes from Dicey, who suggested three key rules-Parliament Con Make And Unmake Any Law: His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. Parliament Act 1911.

Parliament Cannot Bind Its Successors: Union With Ireland Act 1800. Vauxhall Estate Ltd Vs. Liverpool Corporation [1932] 1

KB 733

No-one Can Question Parliament’s Laws: Although the rule speaks of “NO-ONE” the key issue is

whether the Courts can Challenge Parliament ….? Under the mode of Parliamentary Sovereignty, the answer will be …..“NO”

British Railways Board Vs. Pinki [1976] AC 765.

Continuing…

The Separation of PowersSeparation of power requires different people to work within the three organs(Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) of States and the organs of States act to restrain each other and prevent the other institution from exceeding their powers.

M Vs. Home Office [1994] 1 AC 377.

R Vs. Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Anderson [2003] 1 AC 837.

R Vs. Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Fire Brigades Union [1995] 2 AC 513.

Continuing…

The Rule of LawThe term Rule of Law is a set of underlying principles which are-

Continuing…

• No Arbitrary Power

• State Powers Should Be Specified In Law

• No Punishment Except Breach Of Law

• Law Applies To All Persons Equally.

• Law Should Be General, Open And Clear.

• Law Should Be Stable.

• Judiciary Should Be Independent.

• Law Should Not Be Biased.

• Courts Are Able To Review State Powers.

• Courts Shall Be Accessible.

• Representative Government.

• No Retrospective Law.

• Respect For Human Rights

• The Right To Challenge The State.

• Right To A Fair Trial.

Notwithstanding contained in the previous part of this presentation, we must keep it in our mind that, the govt. system of UK is not similar with all other Unitary country’s govt. system. In fact, there is no single ideal form of Unitary system. The variants that can be distinguished from others are-The degree of Cultural and National diversity…

Bangladesh, France, Iceland, Italy[monoculture], the United Kingdom, on the other hand [multicultural] country.

Single country, single State[ Ex- Bangladesh, Philippines, Switzerland etc] on the other hand, Single country, multi-states[ The UK, Russia, Canada etc].

Variants that can be identified among Unitary. Governments.

Some country have Constitutional Supremacy [ Bangladesh, Philippines] on the other hand, some country have Parliamentary Sovereignty [ The UK, Russia etc.]

Most of the times, the President is considered as the head of the country as well as the Parliament [ Bangladesh], on the other hand, the Monarch hold the highest power over the country as well as the Parliament [ the UK].

Most of the single state country has Unicameral Parliament [Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia etc.], others are Bicameral parliament.

Continuing…

The procedures for formal and informal adoption and amendment of the constitution [ Flexible / Rigid].

Distribution of powers among the central and local governments.

Continuing…

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION