History of the constitution of the United Kingdom

Kings had extensive powers to make laws, mint coins, levy taxes, raise armies, regulate trade, and determine foreign policy.

At certain times, the king enlarged the court by summoning large numbers of magnates (earls, barons, bishops and abbots) to attend a magnum concilium (Latin for "great council") to discuss national business and promulgate legislation.

[32] King John (r. 1199–1216) needed large amounts of money to recover the lost continental possessions of the Angevin Empire, and his extortionate use of scutage, fines and amercements provoked baronial opposition.

[33] Magna Carta was based on three assumptions important to later constitutional development:[34] While the clause stipulating no taxation "without the common counsel" was deleted from later reissues, it was nevertheless adhered to by later kings.

Nevertheless, this proved ineffective at restraining the king as he was still able to raise lesser amounts of revenue from sources that did not require parliamentary consent:[45][46] The government of Henry III (r. 1216–1272) was led by a succession of chief ministers who alienated the baronage by their accumulation of power and wealth for themselves and their families.

[64] Under Henry VIII, to seal a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn (who he soon beheaded for supposed infidelity), the Church of England was declared separate from Rome in the Act of Supremacy 1534, with the King as the head.

While Elizabeth I maintained a protestant Church, under her successor James, who unified the Scottish and English Crowns, religious and political tensions grew as he asserted a divine right of Kings.

[77] This demanded the King to abide by Magna Carta, levy no tax without Parliament, not arbitrarily commit people to prison, not have martial law in times of peace, and not billet soldiers in private homes.

As Charles I was at war with France and Spain, he signed the Petition of Right, but then responded by shutting down or proroguing Parliament and taxing trade (or "ship money") without authority.

The country descended into the English Civil War in 1642 culminating in the capture and execution of King Charles I on Whitehall in 1649 by the New Model Army led by Oliver Cromwell.

Yet, they didn't have the military might that King Charles I (and his nobles) had, so they solicited the help of the Scottish with the Solemn League and Covenant that promised to impose the Presbyterian religion on the Church of England.

In 1649 Diggers, a small people's political reform movement, published The True Levellers Standard Advanced: or, The State of Community opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men.

Ferocious Viking raids beginning in AD 793 may have speeded up a long-term process of gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs.

[94] The reign of David I has been characterised as a "Davidian Revolution",[95][96] in which he introduced a system of feudal land tenure, established the first royal burghs in Scotland and the first recorded Scottish coinage, and continued a process of religious and legal reforms.

[104] The Privy Council, which developed in the mid-sixteenth century,[105] and the great offices of state, including the chancellor, secretary and treasurer, remained central to the administration of the government, even after the departure of the Stuart monarchs to rule in England from 1603.

[109] In the early modern era, Parliament was also vital to the running of the country, providing laws and taxation, but it had fluctuating fortunes and was never as central to the national life as its counterpart in England.

[110] In the early period the kings of the Scots depended on the great lords of the mormaers (later earls) and toísechs (later thanes), but from the reign of David I, sheriffdoms were introduced, which allowed more direct control and gradually limited the power of the major lordships.

The South Sea Company, duly incorporated to monopolise trade routes, became the object of mass financial speculation, provoked by government ministers interested in its rising share price.

In 1772, when Lord Mansfield ruled in Somerset v Stewart that slavery was unlawful at common law,[125] this set off a wave of outrage in southern, plantation colonies of America.

In R v Lovelass a group of agricultural workers who formed a trade union were prosecuted and sentenced to be transported to Australia under the Unlawful Oaths Act 1797,[133] triggering mass protests.

As the great famine hit Ireland and millions migrated to the United States, Chartists staged a mass march from Kennington Common to Parliament in 1848 as revolutions broke out across Europe, and the Communist Manifesto was drafted by German revolutionary Karl Marx and Manchester factory owner Friedrich Engels.

[136] From the start of the 20th century, the UK underwent vast social and constitutional change, beginning with an attempt by the House of Lords to suppress trade union freedom.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George failed to introduce Home Rule in 1918 and in the December 1918 General Election Sinn Féin won a majority of Irish seats.

The failed international law system, after World War II was replaced with the United Nations where the UK held a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Under Margaret Thatcher, significant cuts were made to public services, labour rights, and the powers of local government, including abolishing the Greater London Council.

Then, following a referendum on EU membership in 2016 that resulted in 52.89 per cent of people favouring to leave, the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the European Union on 31 January 2020.

In late October 2011, the prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms voted to grant gender equality in the line of succession to the British throne, ending male-preference primogeniture.

[149] Following the Perth Agreement in 2011, legislation amending the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 came into effect across the Commonwealth realms on 26 March 2015 which changed the laws of succession to the British throne.

On 20 February 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union would be held on 23 June 2016, following years of campaigning by eurosceptics.

Concepts developed through British constitutional history, such as protection of individual rights and habeas corpus, have influenced the legal and political systems of other nations around the world.

The Palace of Westminster was rebuilt in the 1840s and 1850s. It is considered the mother of parliaments .
An Anglo-Saxon king with his witan . A biblical scene in the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch (11th century), portraying Pharaoh in court session, after passing judgment on his chief baker and chief cupbearer
Rectangular peach coloured frame with floral artwork and green trim surrounding a photo of sixteen people around a table dressed in green and blue robes with five people above in tan robes. Below the table is a cage with two people inside.
The Court of Exchequer at work
The Court of King's Bench depicted in an illuminated manuscript from about 1460. [ 23 ]
An original copy of the 1215 version of Magna Carta
The seal of Henry III. Under the Provisions of Oxford, use of the seal was controlled by a council of barons. [ 47 ]
John Ball , a leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 following repression after the Black Death , preached that "matters goeth not well to pass in England, nor shall not do till everything be common , and that there be no villains nor gentlemen, but that we may be all unied [ sic ] together, and that the lords be no greater masters than we be." [ 51 ]
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 confirmed Parliament's supremacy over the monarch, represented by John Locke 's Second Treatise on Government (1689). This laid the foundations for a peaceful unification of England and Scotland in the Act of Union 1707 .
The coronation of Alexander III of Scotland at Scone Abbey ;. Beside him are the Mormaers of Strathearn and Fife while his genealogy is recited by a royal poet.
The Treaty of Union .
To demand democratic reform, the Chartists met on Kennington Common during the Revolutions of 1848 .
The British Empire ended after World War II as former colonies demanded independence. The Commonwealth is now open to any country committed to peace, liberty, equality, and development, as in the Harare Declaration of 1991.
With the European Communities Act 1972 , the UK became a member of the European Union , with representation in the European Parliament . This is "not merely an economic union" but is intended to "ensure social progress and seek the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their peoples". [ 146 ]