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Parliamentary system in England. The History of Parliament in England. Definition of the word "parliament"

In the UK, the monarch heads parliament, can convene and dissolve it, annually opens a parliamentary session in the House of Lords, approves laws - without royal sanction, the law has no legal force

Composition of the UK Parliament

Lower house (House of Commons)

It is formed on the basis of direct elections by secret ballot for a period of 5 years.

650 deputies according to the number of constituencies:
533 from England
59 from Scotland
40 from Wales
18 for Northern Ireland

Functions of the House of Commons

Adopts bills and submits them (everything except financial ones) for approval to the House of Lords. Adopts the budget and considers financial bills. Has the exclusive right to coordinate taxation, government spending.

About 1550 people

Party composition

According to the latest, 55th convocation (2010)

306 conservatives
258 Labor
57 liberal democrats
8 Unionist Democrats
6 Scottish nationalists
5 Irish Republicans (Sinn Féin)
3 Welsh Nationalist (Plyde Cymru)
3 from the Social Democrats and Labor Party
1 from the Alliance
1 from the green party
1 independent deputy
1 speaker

Speaker- President of the House of Commons, leading the meetings and representing the House in its relations with the Queen, the House of Lords and other government bodies. After his resignation, he receives the title of viscount and a seat in the House of Lords.

Upper House (House of Lords)

Formed on a non-electoral basis

774 people who have the right to take part in the work of the Chamber

Functions of the House of Lords

Considers and amends bills passed by the House of Commons, with the exception of financial bills. Considers appeals against decisions of courts in civil and criminal cases. The verdict of the House of Lords is final.

Number of attendants- about 450 people

Compound

26 spiritual lords ( Lords Spiritual) - Anglican clergy
87 hereditary peers(title obtained by birthright: duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron)
661 life peer(a title without the right of hereditary transfer was conferred by the monarch for special services to the state)

The oldest parliament in the world- Icelandic Althing - was founded in 930. Established in 979, the Parliament of the Isle of Man - tynwald - is the oldest continuously working.

For almost 50 years in the US Senate there has been candy table tradition. In 1965, it was introduced by sweet-toothed Senator George Murphy, who treated colleagues. There have been many Murphy followers at the desk, and they have all fed the senators, who currently eat about 180 kg of candy and chocolate a year from sponsors.

The territory on which it stands Australian parliament, occupies 32 hectares. The building consists of 4,500 rooms with a total area of 250,000 m 2 .

In the House of Commons of the British Parliament eat twice as much as 20 years ago: In the early 1990s, 4,000 meals were prepared daily, and in the 2010s, their number increased to 8,000.

San Marino has two heads of state- captains-regents, elected by the Council of State (unicameral parliament) for 6 months from competing parties.

Parliament size

14 members- Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia (the smallest parliament in the world)
63 - Althing, Iceland
100 - Saeima, Latvia
601 - 2nd Constituent Assembly of Nepal
620 - Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (170 in the Federation Council, 450 in the State Duma)
687 - Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK
2987 - National People's Congress (the largest parliament in the world)

Salary of parliamentarians

(in US dollars and rubles per month)

~ $ 21,000 (~ 750,000 rubles) - in Japan (the highest paid deputies in the world)
~ $15,300 (~ RUB 546,500) - in Australia
$14,500 (~ RUB 517,650) - in the USA
~ $ 11,765 (420,000 rubles) - in the Russian Federation (since September 1, 2014)
~ $ 11,060 (~ 395,000 rubles) - in Germany
~ 9445 $ (~ 337,000 rubles) - in the UK
6250 $ (~ 223,100 rubles) - in Kenya (in 2013 it was cut from $ 10,000)
370 $ (~ 13,200 rubles) - in Zimbabwe (one of the smallest salaries)

English Regional Assemblies

Reserve questions

local government
Greater London authorities

Elections: - -
Human rights
International relationships

Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(English) Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland listen)) is the highest legislative body in the United Kingdom and the Royal Overseas Territories. It is led by the British Monarch. Parliament is bicameral, comprising an upper house called the House of Lords and a lower house called the House of Commons. The House of Lords is not elected, it includes the Lords Ecclesiastical (higher clergy of the Anglican Church), the Lords Secular (peers) and the Lords of Appeal (eng. List of Lords of Appeal ). The House of Commons, by contrast, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate rooms at the Palace of Westminster in London. By custom, all ministers, including the prime minister, are chosen exclusively from members of Parliament.

Parliament evolved from the ancient royal council. In theory, power does not come from Parliament, but from the "Queen-in-Parliament" ("Eng. the Crown in Parliament"- literally - "The Crown in Parliament"). It is often said that only the Queen-in-Parliament is the supreme power, although this is a rather controversial statement. Power now also comes from the democratically elected House of Commons; The monarch acts as a representative figure, and the power of the House of Lords is substantially limited.

The British Parliament is often popularly called the "mother of all parliaments", since the legislatures of many countries, and especially the member countries of the British Commonwealth, are modeled on it.

Story

Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament chamber

Parliament of Ireland

The Irish Parliament was created to represent the English in the Irish dominion, while the native or Gaelic Irish had no right to elect or be elected. It was first convened in 1264. Then the British only lived in the area around Dublin known as The Line.

The principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower house was developed only in the 19th century. The House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons in both theory and practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected under an outdated electoral system that varied widely in the size of polling stations. So in Gatton, seven voters chose two MPs, as well as in Dunwich ( English), which is completely submerged due to land erosion. In many cases, members of the House of Lords controlled small electoral wards known as "pocket boroughs" and "rotten boroughs" and could ensure that their relatives or supporters were elected. Many seats in the House of Commons were the property of the Lords. Also at that time, electoral bribery and intimidation were widespread. After the reforms of the nineteenth century (starting in 1832), the electoral system was greatly streamlined. No longer dependent on the upper house, members of the Commons became more confident.

Modern era

The supremacy of the House of Commons was clearly established at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1909, the House of Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget", which introduced numerous tax changes that were disadvantageous to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, made up of the powerful landed aristocracy, rejected this budget. Using the popularity of this budget and the unpopularity of the Lords, the Liberal Party won the election in 1910. Using the results of the election, Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith proposed an Act of Parliament that would limit the powers of the House of Lords. When the Lords refused to pass this legislation, Asquith asked the King to create several hundred Liberal peers to dilute the Conservative Party's majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House of Lords passed an Act of Parliament that only allowed the Lords to delay legislation for three sessions (reduced to two sessions in 1949), after which it would take effect over their objections.

Organization of activities

Compound

The British Parliament is bicameral, that is, based on a bicameral system, and consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. However, as a nationwide representative body, Parliament is a triune institution that includes not only both chambers, but also the monarch, the "Queen-in-Parliament" (Eng. Crown-in-Parliament), since only the presence of all three elements forms in the legal sense what is called the British Parliament. This connection is due to the peculiarity of the principle of separation of powers, which consists in the fact that in the system of state bodies of Great Britain such a division is both actually and formally absent: the monarch is an integral part of each of the branches of power. Thus, one of the political prerogatives of the monarch is his right to convene and dissolve Parliament. Furthermore, no law can take effect until royal assent has been obtained, that is, until it has been approved by the monarch. The Queen heads Parliament, however, her role is largely ceremonial: in practice, she traditionally acts on the advice of the prime minister and other members of the government.

The term "Parliament" is usually used to refer to both houses, but sometimes parliament means its main part - the House of Commons. Thus, only members of the House of Commons are called "Members of Parliament". The government is responsible only to the House of Commons, and this responsibility is called "parliamentary". It is the House of Commons that exercises what is called "parliamentary control".

The House of Commons

House of Lords

General parliamentary procedure

Issues of procedure in the British Parliament are given extremely great importance, but unlike most states, there is no single written document that would fix the rules for the internal organization of the chambers - it is replaced by permanent rules (Eng. Standing orders), developed by centuries of practice, including session rules approved at the beginning of each session. It should be noted that these rules, acting in both chambers and acting as an analogue of parliamentary regulations in other countries, do not form a single legal act, but are a collection of various norms adopted by each chamber separately and at different times. In addition, parliamentary procedure is governed by various unwritten rules - customs (Eng. custom and practice) .

Convening and dissolving parliament

The convocation of Parliament is the prerogative of the monarch, exercised on the proposal of the Prime Minister within 40 days after the end of parliamentary elections through the issuance of a royal proclamation (eng. Royal Proclamation). Parliamentary sessions are convened annually, usually in late November - early December, and continue for most of the year with breaks for holidays. Each session begins with the Monarch's Throne Speech. Speech from the Throne), which is usually drawn up by the Prime Minister and contains the program of government activities for the coming year. During the Speech from the Throne, Parliament is in full session.

The extension of powers and the dissolution of parliament are also possible on the basis of a formal expression of the will of the monarch. Custom and numerous precedents allow the prime minister to propose to the monarch at any time the dissolution of parliament, without the monarch having any grounds for refusal.

After the completion of Parliament, regular elections are held in which new members of the House of Commons are elected. The composition of the House of Lords does not change with the dissolution of Parliament. Each parliament meeting after new elections has its own serial number, while the countdown is from the moment the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland were united into the United Kingdom, that is, from 1801. The current parliament is already the fifty-fifth in a row.

ceremonial

parliamentary sessions

The procedure for holding parliamentary sessions is strictly regulated. They begin with the so-called "Question Hour" (Eng. Question Time) to the prime minister and members of the government. Next, the parliamentarians move on to the most urgent cases, as well as government and private statements, and then to the main agenda, that is, lawmaking, which includes debate and voting.

government statement (English) ministerial statement) - an oral statement by a member of the cabinet of ministers on the domestic and foreign policy of the government - both current (oral statement) and planned (written statement). At the end of the speech, parliamentarians can respond to the statement or add their own comments to it, as well as ask the minister relevant questions.

Both houses can punish violations of their privileges. Contempt of Parliament, such as disobeying a summons as a witness issued by a parliamentary committee, may also be punished. The House of Lords can imprison a person for any length of time, the House of Commons can also imprison a person, but only until the end of the session of Parliament. Punishment imposed by either House may not be challenged in any court.

Powers

Legislative process

Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster

The Parliament of the United Kingdom may make laws by its Acts. Some acts are valid throughout the kingdom, including Scotland, but since Scotland has its own legislative system (the so-called Scottish law (eng. Scots law )), many acts are not valid in Scotland and are either accompanied by the same acts, but only valid in Scotland, or (since 1999) by laws passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The new law, in its draft form called bill, may be proposed by any member of the upper or lower house. Bills are usually introduced by the king's ministers. A bill introduced by a minister is called a "Government Bill", while one introduced by an ordinary member of the House is called a "Private Member's Bill". Billy is also distinguished by their content. Most of the bills that affect the whole society are called "Public Bills". Bills that give special rights to an individual or a small group of people are called "Private Bills". A private bill that affects the wider community is called a "Hybrid Bill".

Bills of private members of the House are only one-eighth of all bills, and they are much less likely to pass than government bills, since the time for discussion of such bills is very limited. A Member of Parliament has three ways to introduce his Private Member's Bill.

The first way is to put it to the vote in the list of bills proposed for discussion. Usually, about four hundred bills are put on this list, then these bills are voted on, and the twenty bills that get the most votes get time for discussion.
Another way is the "ten minute rule". Under this rule, MPs are given ten minutes to propose their bill. If the House agrees to accept it for discussion, it goes to the first reading, otherwise the bill is eliminated.
The third way - according to order 57, having warned the speaker a day in advance, formally put the bill on the list for discussion. Such bills are rarely passed.

A great danger for bills is “parliamentary filibustering”, when opponents of a bill deliberately play for time in order to make the time allotted for its discussion expire. Bills of private members of the House have no chance of being accepted if they are opposed by the incumbent government, but they are brought in to raise questions of morality. Bills to legalize homosexual relations or abortion were bills of private members of the House. The government can sometimes use the bills of private members of the House to pass unpopular laws with which it does not want to be associated. Such bills are called handout bills.

Each bill goes through several stages of discussion. The first reading is a pure formality. In the second reading, the general principles of the bill are discussed. On the second reading, the House can vote to reject the bill (by refusing to say "That the Bill be now read a second time"), but government bills are very rarely rejected.

After the second reading, the bill goes to committee. In the House of Lords, this is a committee of the whole house, or a grand committee. Both are composed of all members of the House, but the Grand Committee operates under special procedure and is used only for non-controversial bills. In the House of Commons, a bill is usually referred to a sitting committee of 16-50 members of the House, but for important legislation, a committee of the whole House is used. Several other types of committees, such as an elected committee, are rarely used in practice. The committee considers the bill article by article, and reports the proposed amendments to the entire house, where further discussion of the details takes place. The device called kangaroo(Existing Order 31) allows the speaker to select amendments to discuss. Typically, this device is used by the committee chair to limit discussion in the committee.

After the House has considered the bill, the third reading follows. There are no further amendments in the House of Commons, and passing "That the Bill be now read a third time" means passing the entire bill. However, amendments may still be made in the House of Lords. After passing the third reading, the House of Lords must vote on the proposal "That the Bill do now pass". After passing in one house, the bill is sent to the other house. If it is passed by both Houses in the same wording, it may be submitted to the Sovereign for approval. If one of the houses does not agree with the amendments of the other house, and they cannot resolve their differences, the bill fails.

An Act of Parliament in 1911 limited the power of the House of Lords to reject bills passed by the House of Commons. The restrictions were reinforced by an Act of Parliament in 1949. Under this act, if the House of Commons passed a bill in two consecutive sessions and both times it was rejected by the House of Lords, the House of Commons may refer the bill to the Sovereign for approval, despite the refusal of the House of Lords to pass it. In each case, the bill must be passed by the House of Commons at least one month before the end of the session. This provision has no effect on bills proposed by the House of Lords, bills intended to extend the term of Parliament, and private bills. A special procedure applies to bills recognized by the Speaker of the House of Commons as "Money Bills". The Money Bill deals only with matters of taxation or public money. If the House of Lords fails to pass the bill of money within one month of its passing by the House of Commons, the lower house may refer it to the Sovereign for approval.

Even before the passage of the Acts of Parliament, the House of Commons had more power in financial matters. By ancient custom, the House of Lords cannot introduce bills relating to taxation or the budget, or make amendments relating to taxation or the budget. The House of Commons may temporarily grant the House of Lords the privilege of considering financial matters in order to allow the House of Lords to pass amendments relating to financial matters. The House of Lords can refuse to pass bills concerning the budget and taxation, although this refusal can be easily circumvented in the case of "monetary bills".

The final step in passing a bill is obtaining Royal Assent. Royal Assent ). Theoretically, the sovereign can give consent (i.e., pass a law) or not (i.e., veto a bill). According to modern ideas, the sovereign always makes laws. The last refusal to give consent occurred in 1708, when Queen Anne did not approve a bill "for the creation of a Scottish militia".

A bill, before becoming law, receives the consent of all three parts of Parliament. Thus all laws are made by the sovereign, with the consent of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. All Acts of Parliament begin with "BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows ".

Judicial functions

In addition to legislative functions, the Parliament also performs some judicial functions.

The Queen-in-Parliament is the highest court in most cases, but some cases are decided by the Privy Council (eg appeals from ecclesiastical courts). The judicial power of Parliament derives from the ancient custom of petitioning the House for the redress of injustice and the administration of justice. The House of Commons stopped considering petitions for annulment of judgments in 1399, effectively turning the House of Lords into the country's highest judicial body. Now the judicial functions of the House of Lords are not performed by the entire house, but by a group of judges who were granted a life peerage by the sovereign under the Appeals Act of 1876 (the so-called Lords of Appeal in Ordinary) and other peers with judicial experience (Lords of Appeal). These Lords, also called Law Lords, are Lords of Parliament but do not usually vote or speak out on political matters.

At the end of the 19th century, the appointment of the Scottish Lords of Appeal in Ordinary was allowed, which stopped the filing of appeals in criminal cases relating to Scotland to the House of Lords, so that the Supreme Criminal Court of Scotland became the highest criminal court in Scotland. The Judiciary Committee of the House of Lords now includes at least two Scottish judges to provide the expertise in Scottish law needed to hear appeals from the Higher Civil Court of Scotland.

Historically, the House of Lords also performs some other judicial functions. Until 1948, this was the court that tried peers accused of high treason. Peers are now subject to ordinary jury trials. In addition, when the House of Commons begins impeachment proceedings, the trial is conducted by the House of Lords. Impeachment, however, is now very rare; the last one was in 1806. Some members of Parliament are trying to revive this tradition and have signed a petition to impeach the Prime Minister, but they are unlikely to succeed.

Relations with the government

The UK government is accountable to Parliament. However, neither the Prime Minister nor the members of the government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead, the Queen asks the person with the most support in the House (who is usually the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons) to form a government. In order to be accountable to the lower house, the Prime Minister and most of the members of the cabinet are chosen from members of the House of Commons, not the House of Lords. The last Prime Minister from the House of Lords was Alex Douglas-Home in 1963. However, to fulfill the custom, Lord Hume renounced his peerage and was elected to the House of Commons after becoming Prime Minister.

Using their original majority in the House of Commons, the government usually dominates the legislative work of Parliament, and sometimes uses its patronage power to appoint supporting peers to the House of Lords. In practice, the government can get any legislation it wants to pass, unless there is a big split in the ruling party. But even in such a situation, it is unlikely that the government's proposed bill will not pass, although dissenting members of parliament can obtain concessions from the government. AT

The collection of exorbitant taxes and other abuses of the king of England in the middle of the 13th century caused a clash between the king and the barons, who again attracted knights and townspeople to their side. Under John's heir Henry III (1207-1272), the struggle to limit royal power flared up with renewed vigor. The demand of the king to collect a third of the income from all movable and immovable property of the country led to the fact that the armed barons, meeting in 1256 for a council in Oxford, forced the king to accept the so-called Oxford provisions. They provided for the transfer of power in the country to the council of 15 barons, without the consent of which the king could not make any important decisions. It was also envisaged that the council of barons should meet three times a year, and if "there is a need", then more often.

In 1263, a civil war began between the supporters of the king and his opponents, led by Simon de Montfort. In his camp, along with the barons, there were knights, townspeople and free peasants. In 1264, the royal army was defeated, and the king himself, along with the heir to the throne, was captured.

The fullness of state power was in the hands of Simon de Montfort, who undertook the reorganization of the state. One of the most important moments in his activity was the convocation of the first parliament in the history of England in 1265, in which, along with the barons and spiritual feudal lords, representatives of knights and townspeople were invited. The movement of the peasant masses that unfolded during the civil war, which was of an anti-feudal nature, forced the barons, frightened by the movement, to go over to the side of the king. Montfort's army was defeated, and he himself was killed.

In 1295, King Edward I convened an "exemplary" unicameral parliament, which, in addition to the large secular and spiritual feudal lords personally invited by the king, included two representatives from 37 counties and two representatives from cities. Initially, the Parliament determined only the amount of taxes. It was convened by the will of the king, and who had the right of absolute veto on bills. For the next half century, English Parliaments were convened in the same composition.

The structure of the parliament took shape later. In 1352, Parliament was divided into 2 chambers: the upper (House of Lords) and the lower (House of Commons). Since the 15th century, the custom has been established to invite to the House of Lords those who had a patent from the king to bestow the title of duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron. The lords who sat in this house won the right to transfer this office by heredity.

The legal status of the Parliament of England differed from that of the Estates General in France. The English Parliament almost immediately got what the Estates General wanted. Even under Edward I, the House of Lords began to perform the functions of the Supreme Court in relation to royal ministers who committed abuses. And the House of Commons achieved the right to initiate criminal proceedings against the royal ministers even earlier.

The competence of the parliament included not only the voting of taxes, but also control over their execution and use. In 1297, Edward I decreed that taxes would only be imposed with the consent of Parliament. In 1340 it was established that the king could not impose direct taxes and similar taxes without the consent of Parliament. The king had to report to the House of Commons on the expenditure of finances. The House of Commons, in addition to the right to impose taxes, received the right to control customs duties.

In the 14th century, the king signed an act ordering the appointment of officials (chancellor, treasurer, judges of the highest royal courts, etc.) in agreement with parliament. Parliament also had the right to petition the king. The king could reject the demands of parliament or agree with them.

Under Edward II (1307-1327) it was recognized that no law should be passed without the consent of the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. During the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the legislative powers of Parliament finally took shape. It was established that a royal ordinance could only be legal when passed and approved by Parliament. Under Henry IV, the House of Commons, in its petition to the King, explicitly stated that the issuance of new laws without its consent was a violation of the primordial rights of the House. Thus, the parliament won the right to participate in the legislative process, to issue acts of a legislative nature (statutes), which often surpassed royal decrees (ordinances and assizes) in their legal force.

In turn, King Edward IV in the 15th century was distrustful of parliament, especially in financial matters, preferring the so-called voluntary gifts and forced loans from cities. He forced Parliament to grant him the right to collect customs duties for life. Thus, the formation and convocation of parliament in the Middle Ages often depended on the personality of the king.

The suffrage, which regulated the elections to the House of Commons, from the very beginning took on a pronounced class character. The procedure for the formation of the lower house was determined by the law of 1430. The entire territory of the kingdom was divided into 37 counties. The right to vote was granted only to those persons who permanently resided in the county and owned a freehold generating an income of at least 40 shillings. Moreover, it was emphasized that the voters should be knights girded with a sword, but not peasants, even if they were free and prosperous. The procedure for elections in the cities was not the same: in some cities it was required to pay a poll tax, in others - to own a free city holding, in the third - to have "one's own hearth", in the fourth - to be a member of the merchant guild. Passive suffrage began to be regulated by law, which decreed that only persons of noble origin could be elected.

In the era of the formation of parliamentarism in England, local administration was carried out by a sheriff with an assistant - a bailiff, as well as coroners and constables elected in local assemblies. Sheriffs were still appointed by the king. Traveling judges continued to play an important role, and their powers expanded more and more. The parish became the lowest administrative unit. Justices of the peace appointed by the king were vested with police and judicial powers.

In the United Kingdom and the Royal Colonies. It is led by the British Monarch. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house called the House of Lords and a lower house called the House of Commons. The House of Lords is not elected, it includes the Lords Spiritual (the higher clergy of the Church of England) and the Lords Secular (members of the peerage). The House of Commons, by contrast, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate rooms at the Palace of Westminster in London. By custom, all ministers, including the prime minister, are chosen exclusively from members of Parliament.

Parliament evolved from the ancient royal council. In theory, power does not come from Parliament, but from the "Queen-in-Parliament" ("Eng. the Crown in Parliament"- literally - "The Crown in Parliament"). It is often said that only the Queen-in-Parliament is the supreme authority, although this is a controversial statement. Power now also comes from the democratically elected House of Commons; The monarch acts as a representative figure, and the power of the House of Lords is substantially limited.

The British Parliament is often referred to as the "mother of all parliaments", as the legislatures of many countries, and especially the member countries of the British Commonwealth, are modeled on it.

Story

Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament chamber

Parliament of Ireland

The Irish Parliament was created to represent the English in the Irish dominion, while the native or Gaelic Irish had no right to elect or be elected. It was first convened in . Then the British only lived in the area around Dublin known as The Line.

The principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower house was developed only in the 19th century. The House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons in both theory and practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected under an outdated electoral system that varied widely in the size of polling stations. So in Old Sarum, seven voters chose two MPs, as well as in Dunwich, which was completely submerged due to land erosion. In many cases, members of the House of Lords controlled small electoral wards known as "pocket boroughs" and "rotten boroughs" and could ensure that their relatives or supporters were elected. Many seats in the House of Commons were the property of the Lords. Also at that time, electoral bribery and intimidation were widespread. After the reforms of the nineteenth century (starting in 1832), the electoral system was greatly streamlined. No longer dependent on the upper house, members of the Commons became more confident.

Modern era

The supremacy of the House of Commons was clearly established at the beginning of the 20th century. In , the House of Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget", which introduced numerous tax changes that were unfavorable for wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, made up of the powerful landed aristocracy, rejected this budget. Using the popularity of this budget and the unpopularity of the Lords, the Liberal Party won the election in 1910. Using the results of the election, Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith proposed an Act of Parliament that would limit the powers of the House of Lords. When the Lords refused to pass this legislation, Asquith asked the King to create several hundred Liberal peers to dilute the Conservative Party's majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House of Lords passed an Act of Parliament that only allowed the Lords to delay legislation for three sessions (reduced to two sessions in ), after which it would take effect over their objections.

Compound

Parliament is headed by the British Monarch. The role of the Monarch, however, is largely ceremonial, in practice he or she always acts on the advice of the prime minister and other ministers, who in turn are accountable to the two houses of Parliament.

The upper house, the House of Lords, is primarily composed of appointed members ("Lords of Parliament"). Formally, the chamber is called Right Honorable Lords Spiritual and Lords Secular assembled in Parliament. The Lords Ecclesiastical are the clergy of the Church of England, while the Lords Lay are members of the Peerage. The Lords Spiritual and the Lords Secular are considered to be of different estates, but they sit, discuss different matters, and vote together.

Previously, the Lords Spiritual included all the higher clergy of the Church of England: archbishops, bishops, abbots and priors. However, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the reign of Henry VIII, abbots and priors lost their seats in Parliament. All diocesan bishops continued to sit in Parliament, but under the Manchester Bishopric Act 1847 and later acts, only twenty-six higher bishops and archbishops are now Lords Spiritual. These twenty-six always include those holding the "five great sees," namely the Archbishop of Cantrebury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham, and the Bishop of Winchester. The rest of the Lords Spiritual are the most senior diocesan bishops, according to the order of ordination.

All Lords of the Laity are members of the Peerage. Previously, these were hereditary peers holding the titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron. Some hereditary peers were not eligible to sit in Parliament by birthright alone: after the union of England and Scotland into Great Britain in , it was established that those peers whose peerage was created by the Kings of England were eligible to sit in Parliament, but those whose peerage was created by the Kings Scotland, elected a limited number of "representative peers". A similar provision was made for Ireland when Ireland was annexed to Great Britain in 1801. But when Southern Ireland left the United Kingdom in , the election of representative peers was discontinued. Under the Peerage Act 1963, the election of Scottish representative peers was also terminated, while all Scottish peers were given the right to sit in Parliament. Under the House of Lords Act 1999, only a life peerage (i.e. a peerage that is not inherited) automatically entitles its holder to sit in the House of Lords. Of the hereditary peers, only ninety-two are the Earl Marshal (Eng. Earl Marshall) and Lord Chief Chamberlain (Eng. Lord Great Chamberlain) and ninety hereditary peers, chosen by all peers, retain their seats in the House of Lords.

The commoners, the last of the estates of the Kingdom, are represented by the House of Commons, which is formally called Venerable Commoners Gathered in Parliament. The Chamber currently has 646 members. Before the 2005 election, the House had 659 members, but the number of Scottish MPs was reduced under the Scottish Parliament Act 2004. Each "Member of Parliament" or "MP" (eng. Member of Parliament) is elected by one constituency under the First-Past-the-Post electoral system. All persons over the age of 18, citizens of the United Kingdom, and citizens of Ireland and Commonwealth countries permanently resident in the United Kingdom are eligible to vote. The term of office of a member of the House of Commons depends on the term of Parliament; general elections, in which a new Parliament is elected, take place after each dissolution of Parliament.

The three parts of Parliament are separated from each other; no one can sit in the House of Commons and the House of Lords at the same time. The Lords of Parliament cannot by law vote in elections for members of the House of Commons, nor is the Sovereign customary to vote in elections, although there is no statutory restriction on this.

Procedure

Each of the two Houses of Parliament is headed by a Speaker. In the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor, a member of the cabinet, is the Speaker ex officio. If the office is not filled, the Speaker may be appointed by the Crown. Deputy Speakers who replace him if he is absent are also appointed by the Crown.

The House of Commons has the right to elect its own speaker. In theory, the consent of the Sovereign is required for the election results to take effect, but according to modern custom, it is guaranteed. The Speaker may be replaced by one of three Vice-Chairmen, who are known as the Chairman, First Vice-Chairman and Second Vice-Chairman. (Their names come from the ways and means committee they once chaired, but which no longer exists.)

In general, the influence of the Lord Chancellor as Speaker over the House is severely limited, while the power of the Speaker of the House of Commons over the House is great. Decisions on violations of the order of work and punishment of unruly members of the House are taken by the entire composition of the House in the Upper House, and solely by the Speaker in the Lower House. In the House of Lords, speeches are addressed to the entire house (using "My Lords"), while in the House of Commons, speeches are addressed only to the speaker (using "Mr Speaker" or "Madam Speaker").

Both Houses may decide matters by oral vote, Members of Parliament shout "Yes" ("Aye") or "No" ("Nay") (in the House of Commons), or "Agree" ("Content") or "Disagree" (" Not-Content") (in the House of Lords), and the presiding officer announces the result of the vote. This total, declared by the Lord Chancellor or the Speaker, may be contested, in which case a tally vote (known as a split vote) is required. (The Speaker of the House of Commons may refuse a frivolous demand for such a vote, but the Lord Chancellor has no such power.) In a separate vote in each of the Houses, the Members of Parliament go to one of the two halls adjacent to the House, with their names recorded by the clerks and their votes are counted when they return from the halls back to the ward. The Speaker of the House of Commons remains neutral and only votes in the event of a tie. The Lord Chancellor votes with all other Lords.

Term of office

After the general election, a new session of Parliament begins. Formally, the Parliament is opened by the Sovereign, who is considered the source of the power of the Parliament, forty days before the start of work. On the day announced by royal proclamation, the two Houses meet in their places. After that, the commoners are called to the House of Lords, where the Lords Commissioners (representatives of the Sovereign) invite them to choose a speaker. Commoners vote; the next day, they return to the House of Lords, where the Lords Commissioners confirm the results of the vote and announce that the new Speaker has been confirmed by the Sovereign on his behalf.

In the next few days, Parliament takes the oath of allegiance (Oath of Allegiance (UK)). After the members of Parliament from both houses have taken the oath, the opening ceremony of Parliament begins. The Lords take their places in the House of Lords, the commoners stand outside the House of Lords, and the Sovereign takes his place on the throne. Thereafter, the Sovereign reads a speech from the throne, the content of which is determined by the Ministers of the Crown, outlining the legislative agenda for the next year. After that, each chamber begins its legislative work.

As is customary, before discussing the legislative agenda, in each chamber pro forma a bill is introduced; Select Vestries Bill in the House of Lords and Outlawries Bill in the House of Commons. These bills do not become laws, they are basically a confirmation of the right of each house to debate laws independently of the crown. After the introduction of these bills, each of the chambers discusses the content of the speech from the throne for several days. After each of the chambers sends its answer to the speech from the throne, the normal work of Parliament can begin. Each chamber appoints committees, elects officers, passes resolutions, and makes legislation.

The session of Parliament ends with a closing ceremony. This ceremony is similar to the opening ceremony, although much less well known. Usually the Sovereign is not present in person at this ceremony, he or she is represented by the Lords Commissioners. The next session of Parliament begins according to the ceremony described above, but this time there is no need to choose a speaker or take the oath again. Instead, the opening ceremony begins immediately.

Each Parliament, after a certain number of sessions, terminates its work, either by order of the Sovereign, or at the expiration of time, which has been more frequent lately. The dissolution of Parliament occurs by decision of the Sovereign, but always with the advice of the Prime Minister. When the political situation is favorable for his party, the Prime Minister may ask for the dissolution of parliament in order to get more than the number of seats in the elections. In addition, if the Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Commons, he may either resign or ask for the dissolution of Parliament in order to renew his mandate.

Initially, there was no limit to the duration of Parliament, but the Triennial Act of 1694 set a maximum duration of three years for Parliament. Since frequent elections seemed inconvenient, the Seven Years Act of 1716 extended the maximum duration of Parliament to seven years, but the Parliamentary Act of 1911 reduced it to five years. During World War II, the term was temporarily extended to ten years. After the end of the war in , the term continued to be equal to five years. Modern Parliaments, however, rarely serve a full term, usually dissolving earlier. For example, the fifty-second parliament that met in was dissolved after four years.

Previously, the death of the Sovereign automatically meant the dissolution of Parliament, since the Sovereign was considered his caput, principium, et finis(beginning, base and end). However, it was inconvenient not to have a Parliament at a time when the succession to the throne could be contested. During the reigns of William III and Mary II, a statute was passed that the Parliament should continue for six months after the death of the Sovereign, unless it was dissolved earlier. The Representation of the People Act of 1867 repealed this establishment. Now the death of the Sovereign does not affect the duration of the Parliament.

After the completion of Parliament, a general election is held in which new members of the House of Commons are elected. Members of the House of Commons do not change with the dissolution of Parliament. Each Parliament meeting after an election is considered to be different from the previous one. Therefore, each Parliament has its own number. The current Parliament is called 54th Parliament of the United Kingdom. This means the fifty-fourth Parliament since the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Prior to that, the Parliaments were called the "Parliament of Great Britain" or the "Parliament of England"

Legislative functions

Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom may make laws by its Acts. Some acts are valid throughout the kingdom, including Scotland, but since Scotland has its own legislative system (the So-called Scottish law, or Scots law), many acts do not apply in Scotland and are either accompanied by the same acts, but valid only in Scotland, or ( c) Acts passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The new law, in its draft form called bill, may be proposed by any member of the upper or lower house. Usually, however, bills are tabled by the king's ministers. A bill introduced by a minister is called a "Government Bill", while one introduced by an ordinary member of the House is called a "Private Member's Bill". Billy is also distinguished by their content. Most of the bills that affect the whole society are called "Public Bills". Bills that give special rights to an individual or a small group of people are called "Private Bills". A private bill that affects the wider community is called a "Hybrid Bill".

One way is to put it to the vote in the list of bills proposed for discussion. Usually about four hundred bills are put on this list, then these bills are voted on, and twenty of those bills that get the most votes get time for discussion.
Another way is the "ten minute rule". Under this rule, MPs are given ten minutes to propose their bill. If the House agrees to accept it for discussion, it goes to the first reading, otherwise the bill is eliminated.
The third way - according to order 57, having warned the speaker a day in advance, formally put the bill on the list for discussion. Such bills are rarely passed.

A great danger for bills is parliamentary filibustering, when opponents of a bill deliberately play for time in order to force the time allotted for its discussion to expire. Bills of private members of the House have no chance of being accepted if they are opposed by the current government, but they are brought in to raise questions of morality. Bills to legalize homosexual relations or abortion were bills of private members of the House. The government can sometimes use the bills of private members of the House to pass unpopular laws with which it does not want to be associated. Such bills are called handout bills.

Each bill goes through several stages of discussion. The first stage, called the first reading, is a pure formality. At the next stage, in the second reading, the general principles of the bill are discussed. On the second reading, the House can vote to reject the bill (by refusing to say "That the Bill be now read a second time"), but government bills are very rarely rejected.

After the second reading, the bill goes to committee. In the House of Lords, this is a committee of the whole house, or a grand committee. Both are made up of all members of the House, but the larger committee operates under special procedure and is used only for non-controversial bills. In the House of Commons, a bill is usually referred to a sitting committee of 16-50 members of the House, but for important bills a committee of the whole house is used. Several other types of committees, such as an elected committee, are rarely used in practice. The committee considers the bill article by article, and reports the proposed amendments to the entire house, where further discussion of the details takes place. The device called kangaroo(Existing Order 31) allows the speaker to select amendments to discuss. Typically, this device is used by the committee chair to limit discussion in the committee.

After the House has considered the bill, the third reading follows. There are no further amendments in the House of Commons, and passing "That the Bill be now read a third time" means passing the entire bill. However, amendments may still be made in the House of Lords. After passing the third reading, the House of Lords must vote on the proposal "That the Bill do now pass." After passing in one house, the bill is sent to the other house. If it is adopted by both Houses in the same wording, it may be submitted to the Sovereign for approval. If one of the houses does not agree with the amendments of the other house, and they cannot resolve their differences, the bill fails.

An Act of Parliament limited the power of the House of Lords to reject bills passed by the House of Commons. The restrictions were reinforced by an Act of Parliament in 1949. Under this act, if the House of Commons has passed a bill in two consecutive sessions and both times it has been rejected by the House of Lords, the House of Commons may refer the bill to the Sovereign for approval, notwithstanding the refusal of the House of Lords to pass it. In each case, the bill must be passed by the House of Commons at least one month before the end of the session. This provision has no effect in relation to bills proposed by the House of Lords, a bill intended to prolong the term of Parliament, and to private bills. A special procedure applies to bills recognized by the Speaker of the House of Commons as "Money Bills". The money bill concerns only issues of taxation or public money. If the House of Lords does not pass the bill of money within one month of its passing by the House of Commons, the lower house may refer it to the Sovereign for approval.

Even before the passage of the Acts of Parliament, the House of Commons had more power in financial matters. By ancient custom, the House of Lords cannot introduce bills relating to taxation or the budget, or make amendments relating to taxation or the budget. The House of Commons may temporarily grant the House of Lords the privilege of considering financial matters in order to allow the House of Lords to pass amendments relating to financial matters. The House of Lords may refuse to pass bills concerning the budget and taxation, although this refusal can be easily circumvented in the case of "Bills of Money".

The final step in passing a bill is obtaining Royal Assent. Theoretically, the Sovereign can consent (i.e., pass a law) or not (i.e., veto a bill). According to modern ideas, the Sovereign always makes laws. The last refusal to give consent occurred when Anna did not approve the bill "on the creation of a Scottish militia."

A bill, before becoming law, receives the consent of all three parts of Parliament. Thus all laws are made by the Sovereign, with the consent of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. All Acts of Parliament begin with "BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows ".

Judicial functions

In addition to legislative functions, the Parliament also performs some judicial functions. The Queen-in-Parliament is the highest court in most cases, but some cases are decided by the Privy Council (eg appeals from ecclesiastical courts). The judicial power of Parliament derives from the ancient custom of petitioning the House for the redress of injustice and the administration of justice. The House of Commons stopped considering petitions for the annulment of judgments in, in fact, turning the House of Lords into the country's highest judicial body. Now the judicial functions of the House of Lords are not performed by the entire House, but by a group of judges who were granted a life peerage by the Sovereign under the Appeals Act 1876 (the so-called "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary") and other peers who have judicial experience, ("Lords of Appeal" ). These Lords, also called "Law Lords", are Lords of Parliament, but do not usually vote or speak out on political matters.

At the end of the 19th century, the appointment of Scottish Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, which stopped appeals in criminal matters relating to Scotland to the House of Lords so that the Supreme Criminal Court of Scotland became the highest criminal court in Scotland. The Judiciary Committee of the House of Lords now includes at least two Scottish judges to ensure that the experience in Scottish Law is necessary to hear appeals from the Higher Civil Court of Scotland.

Historically, the House of Lords also performs some other judicial functions. Until 1948, this was the court that tried peers accused of treason. Peers are now subject to ordinary jury trials. In addition, when the House of Commons begins impeachment proceedings, the trial is conducted by the House of Lords. Impeachment, however, is now very rare; the last one was in . Some members of Parliament are trying to revive this tradition and have signed a petition to impeach the Prime Minister, but they are unlikely to succeed.

Relations with the Government

The UK government is accountable to Parliament. However, neither the Prime Minister nor the members of the government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead, the Queen asks the person with the most support in the House, who is usually the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons, to form a government. In order to be accountable to the lower house, the Prime Minister and most of the members of the cabinet are chosen from members of the House of Commons, not the House of Lords. The last Prime Minister from the House of Lords was Alec Douglas-Home, who became Prime Minister in . However, to fulfill the custom, Lord Home renounced his peerage and was elected to the House of Commons after becoming Prime Minister.

This is the symbol of Great Britain.

Where and when did Parliament appear in England? This article will present a brief history of the creation of this authority, although it takes a rather long period of development of the state. But first, let's look at the origin of the term itself.

Definition of the word "parliament"

Before we find out where and when the parliament appeared in England, let's try to determine the meaning of the word "parliament". There are two main theories of the origin of the term. According to the first of them, the English "parliament" was obtained by combining 2 Latin words:

"parium", meaning "equal" or "parity";
"lamentum" - "weeping, complaint".

That is, parliament is a place where you can file a complaint with people of equal status.

According to the second theory, the term "parliament" is derived from 2 French words:

"parler" (translated as "conversation");
"ment", meaning "judgment".

It turns out that parliament is a place where opinions are exchanged, they have a conversation, they express their point of view.

In connection with the differences in the origin of the term described above, scholars are still arguing about the time of the emergence of the 1st Parliament in England. Therefore, it can be said that there is no unequivocal answer to the question of where and when the parliament appeared in England.

In essence, parliament is one of the most common electoral authorities in many democratic countries. And it can be called differently. For example, in Russia it is the Duma, in Germany it is the Bundestag, in Israel it is the Knesset. The history of the emergence of such a body of power in different countries took place practically according to the same laws.

About prerequisites

Using the example of Britain, let's try to briefly talk about where and when the parliament appeared. In England, the first prerequisites for the birth of an elective system can be traced from the moment when the Roman legionnaires began to retreat from these places. The stages of the formation of statehood passed very slowly, and royal power was rather weak. In connection with the development of cities, a new class was reborn - the bourgeoisie, who tried to defend their interests, as well as large landowners at the state level. The chronicles of some counties of England provide some evidence that noble knights, by decision of the sheriffs of the localities, went to advise the kings on taxation and other financial matters. Naturally, the kings did not need the thoughts of the townspeople and knights on this matter, full agreement with his opinion was strict. But sometimes he had to agree with the proposals of his subjects. Under such conditions, representative assemblies began to emerge in Western Europe, which had a certain restraining effect on the growing appetites of monarchs. One of them and the Parliament in England.

The history of England closely links the origin of such an authority with the name of an influential person of that time - Simon de Montfort.

On the versions of the emergence of Parliament in England

Those who adhere more to the French version of the origin of the name of the authority, believe that the first Parliament of England are the meetings convened by Alfred the Great at the end of the 9th century. But they are contradicted by representatives who adhere to the “autochthonous” version. According to them, the origin of Parliament in England is closely connected with the struggle between the king and barons on the one hand and knights and citizens on the other. And this event happened much later than the first - in the 2nd half of the XIII century.

The latter theory looks more plausible today, and it also has the majority of supporters. It turns out that the first English parliament arose in the XIII century.

Parliament in England

As a full-fledged body of power, Parliament began to function in the Middle Ages, from 1265. Representatives of the upper class of the clergy and the titled nobility received documents, moreover, nominal ones, which gave them the opportunity to take part in parliamentary meetings. Ordinary townspeople and knights took part in its work by common invitation.

In the structure of the Parliament of England for 900 years, almost nothing has changed. And today, as before, it is divided into two chambers. The first is the House of Lords, which includes the descendants of those barons who participated in the "Furious Council" (1258 - a meeting of English aristocrats in Oxford, where Henry III was required to limit the power of the king). This includes representatives of the spiritual nobility and titled nobility. The lower house is the House of Commons. This includes representatives of the heirs of those who in those distant times took part in meetings by "general invitations". These are the descendants of wealthy citizens and knights.

Today, among the representatives of the House of Commons there are also deputies from the local nobility, whom the local people have entrusted to represent their interests in the capital.