武汉理工大学英美文化英国概况Unit3

英美文化与国家概况British and American Studies ( British Part )Unit Three大学英语第一教研室余非编2013年2月Unit 3 Politics and LawContents:1.Political Parties2.Elections3.Justice and Law Courts4.Legal Profession1.Political Parties✧In the United Kingdom, politics is under the control of political parties, and this is known asparty politics.✧There are two major political parties that contest the majority of seats of Parliament in thegeneral election.✧Britain normally holds a general election every five years for British people to elect Membersof Parliament.✧British voters regard the transfer of political powers from one party to another as an effectiveway of making the government more responsive to their demands.✧Under the British law, people are free to set up political parties, and a number of politicalparties exist in the United Kingdom. The law grants equal treatment to all political parties.✧However, only two of them are most important and they are known as the major parties.✧Consequently, politics in Britain is based on a two-party system instead of multi-partysystem.✧The two major parties are respectively called the Conservative Party and the Labor Party.British Parliament is always dominated by one or the other of these two major parties.✧Small parties, usually called minor parties, cannot win the majority seats of Parliament andhave no chance to control the government.✧The history of political parties in Britain can be traced back to the late 17th century when twopolitical parties, the Whigs and the Tories, were founded.The Whigs (辉格党):1. The name Whig is derived from a derogatory term first applied to Scottish rebels.2.Towards the middle of the 19th century, the Whigs adopted a new name, the liberal Party.3.After the First World War, the Liberal Party disintegrated and some of its members laterjoined the Labor Party, which was founded in 1900. Its supporters are mainly from trade unions, liberals, socialists, and progressive intellectuals.4.The basic doctrine of the Labor Party was based on socialism, but its goal was to promotenational and individual growth, not the uprising of one class by overthrowing another one. 5.Many of the Labor leaders are from the working class families, but the party is not arepresentative of the working class in its real sense. It represents the interests of confusing class elements.6.According to statistics from general elections, about 20% of upper-middle class, half of themiddle class, and 60% of the manual workers vote for the Labor Party. It is for this reason that the Labor Party is said to represent the relatively poor or the lower class.The Tories（托利党）:1.Those who opposed the doctrine of the Whigs were called the “ Tories ”. The name Tory,derived from an old Irish word meaning runaway or fugitive.2.In the mid-19 century, the Tory Party decided to adopt the new name --- The ConservativeParty--- because of the changed situation in Britain. Tory is still often used as a synonym for Conservative.3.The main support of the Conservative Party comes from the middle and upper-middle classes,which are believed to be more conservative.4.The average educational level of the Conservatives is usually higher than that of otherpolitical parties. It can be said that the higher one goes up in social and economic class, the more likely he is to vote for the Conservatives.5.That is why some people label the Conserv atives as a party of “the rich”.2.Elections✧Members of Parliament are elected in nationwide general elections. The goal of the twomajor parties is to gain the majority of the seats in the House of Commons so as to form itsgovernment.✧There are 659 seats in the House of Commons, representing the whole nation.✧To distribute the seats fairly, the United Kingdom is divided into 659 electoral districts, alsoknown as constituencies, of equal population. Each constituency is to elect one Member of Parliament.✧Every man and woman aged 18 or over has the right to vote. Each voter can vote for only onecandidate.✧Both parties have their local organizations that choose candidates of their party and help themwith the election campaign. A candidate without party affiliation is known as an independent candidate. Active supporters of the candidates use all kind of methods in the campaign. The most interesting method is “ canvassing ”.✧For the purpose of soliciting votes by canvassing, activists go from house to house and oftenrides in cars to the voting place.✧The general election is held on the same day all over the country, but voting is notcompulsory. The voter takes his ballot paper to a booth where he marks the name he intends to vote for and puts it into a large box.✧At the end of the time for voting, all the boxes containing marked ballot papers are sent to acentral point in the constituency.✧The candidate who gets most votes wins the election. As soon as the results of the generalelection are published, everyone knows which party will govern Britain for the next few years.✧If the Government (the party in power) wins the majority of the seats in Parliament, there isno need to make changes.✧If it fails to win the majority, the Prime Minister concedes his pa rty’s defeat and resigns atonce. The Queen then appoints the leader of the new majority party Prime Minister and empowers him to organize a new government for the five years.✧The former government would become the Opposition Party and form it “ shadow cabinet ”.3.Justice and Law Courts✧Britain is a modern democracy based on the rule of law, but it dose not have a singledocument that can be called the written constitution because British values stress adherence to tradition.✧Generally speaking, the English law comprises three elements :1) Act of Parliament （议会法案）2) Common law （习惯法；判例法）3) The European Union law. （欧盟法）✧There are also various local laws known as by-laws made by local governments; however,since local are not allowed to contradict national laws, they cannot be regarded as a separate element.✧Britain has a long judicial history. Its legal system has been emulated throughout the worldand some of its key principles are reflected in the laws of other countries.✧The most important principles derived from British law include due process of law and thewrit of habeas corpus.✧Due process of law is a legal principle that has been adopted by almost all the moderncountries to protect individual rights. It was used for the first time in the Great Charter., also known as the Magna Carter that was signed by King John in 1215.Note :英国是一个没有成文宪法的国家。