自学考试英美国家概况115132第七章

自学考试英美国家概况115132第七章

I

Chapter '7

Govern ent and A ministration The United Kingdom is a constitutional

monarchy: the head of State is a king or a queen. In practice, the Sovereign reigns,

but not rule: the United Kingdom is governed, in the name of

the .

d Sovereign, 'by His or Her Majesty's Government - a body of Minis-

ters who are the leading members of whichever political party the electorate has voted into office, and who are responsible to The system of parliamentary government is not based on a written constitution. There is no written constitution in the United King- • . dom, that is , unlike the constiutions of most other countries, the British constitution is not set out in any single document., It is made

up of statute law, common law -and conventions (Conventions are

rules and practices which are not legally enforceable but which are

I . The Monarchy

The monarchy is the oldest institution of government, going back • . to at least the 9th century. The continuity of the monarchy, which has had only a few changes in the direct line of succession in the past 1, 000

years, has been broken only once when, between 1649 and 113

16609 a republic was established. Although the monarchy has

sur- vived, it seems that it has no real power

today - The present Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, was born on

April 21, 1926- was married to the Prince

Philip, the Duke of Edin- burgh, on November 20, 1947; came to the throne on

February I

6, 1952; and was crowned on June 2, 1953. Her title in the Unit- ed Kingdom is: ''Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Common- wealth, Defender of the Faith". In the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man the Queen is represented by a

Lieutenant-Governor. Although the seat of the monarchy is in Britain, the Queen is

also head of state of a number of Commonwealth states such as

Australia,

Canada, and New Zealand. In each such state the Queen is repre-

sented. by a Governor- General, appointed by her on the advice of the

ministers of the country concerned and completely

independent of

the British Government . In British dependent territories the . from common law rules of descent. Succession,is founded on the The title to the Crown is derived partly from statute and partly hereditary principle. Sons of the SDvereign have precedence over

daughters in succeeding to the throne. When a daughter succeeds,

she becomes Queen Regnant, and has the same powers as a king.

The consort of a king (i. e. the king's wife) takes her events of 1688, only Protestant descendants of a

granddaughter of 114