By Tyler Horton ‘26

Overview of the United Kingdom and Its Government

When the United Kingdom comes to mind, you may think of things such as historic architecture, the British Royal Family, Stonehenge, and English Tea. The island nation is situated in the northwestern region of the European continent, just north of France, separated by the English Channel. The United Kingdom comprises Northern Ireland and Great Britain, which consists of England, Scotland, and Wales. The only nation the United Kingdom shares a land border with is the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom has a population of 69.6 million people, making it the twenty-second most populous country in the world. The nation has heavily impacted the world with its culture and language, the industrial revolution and technological advancements, and the legacy of the British Empire. The Capital of the United Kingdom is London, England.

The United Kingdom’s government is structured as a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. The executive branch of the government is known as “His Majesty’s Government” and the Prime Minister, currently Keir Starmer, serves as the Head of Government. The executive also consists of a cabinet with senior ministers, selected by the prime minister, who head specific government departments and oversee policy decisions. Another component of the executive is the Civil Service, which is a permanent, independent body of the Crown that delivers services across various sectors. The executive branch is integrated into the legislature through a concept known as a fusion of powers. Parliament serves as the United Kingdom’s legislature and consists of three elements: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarchy. The judiciary serves as an independent branch of government separate from Parliament, and is tasked with applying and interpreting laws. The judiciary will be discussed in more detail in later sections of the article. 

The House of Commons is the lower house of the bicameral legislature, and its main duties include making laws, granting money to the government, debating current issues, and checking the power of the other house. The lower house is the most powerful of the two since it initiates most legislation and approves taxes. There are 650 members of the House of Commons, each representing a specific geographic constituency. These lawmakers are known as Members of Parliament (MPs) and they are elected by the people who live in their constituencies. The United Kingdom has multiple political parties, and the leader of the party with the most elected members becomes the prime minister. Some of the parties include the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and the Reformers, but the most popular are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. 

The upper house, the House of Lords, has the primary role of scrutinizing and revising legislation passed by the House of Commons. Members of the upper house, known as peers, are appointed to their positions rather than going through a democratic process. These lifetime appointments are selected by the reigning monarch, provided with the advice of the prime minister based on experience, knowledge, and other redeeming qualities. The last element of Parliament is the Monarchy, currently King Charles III, who serves as the Head of State. The role of the monarchy is primarily ceremonial, with the other two elements of parliament keeping the monarch’s power in check. One of their duties is to formally invite the leader of the party that wins the seats in an election to form a new government in their name as the prime minister. The monarch is also tasked with outlining legislative agendas in speeches during the State Opening of Parliament and dissolving parliament at the request of the prime minister before general elections.  

Sources of Law

The United Kingdom is unique because it does not have a codified constitution. Instead, the constitution is uncodified, meaning there is no singular, written document containing laws or outlines for a structure of governance. The uncodified constitution is made up of statutory laws and common law. Statutes and common law are considered primary sources of law since they have legal binding authority and form the basis of the legal system that guides society. 

Statutory laws, also known as statutes, are laws passed by Parliament. These laws start as written bills that must be passed by both the House of Lords and the House of Commons before finally receiving formal approval from the monarch, known as Royal Assent. Common law is a legal system created based on judicial precedent, formally known as stare decisis, which translates to “to stand by things decided.” In the case of the United Kingdom’s common law, the decisions of past cases made by judges of higher courts must apply to future cases if the facts and or legal questions are similar. The common law includes both procedural rules for the courts and substantive rules that define obligations and people’s rights. Statutes can take precedence over common law rules, and judges can reform laws considered out-of-date, even if those laws are statutes. 

The Legal System, Criminal Law, and Civil Law

There are three separate legal systems in the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. These systems each have their own origins in terms of geography, which influenced the traditions of their legal systems. The legal system of England and Wales is divided into criminal courts and civil courts. Criminal matters are handled by the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts. The Crown Court hears cases for indictable criminal offenses and appeals from decisions made in the magistrates’ courts. Magistrates hear a majority of criminal cases and some civil matters. Both of these courts can hear “either-way” offenses, which are offenses that can be heard equally in either type of court. The County Court is responsible for hearing a large portion of the civil cases that come through the English and Welsh legal system. The appellate courts that hear primarily civil cases from these lower jurisdictions are the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. The final court of appeal is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, established in 2009 to separate the judiciary powers from the legislature. 

Northern Ireland’s legal system is based on common law, with courts that hear both criminal and civil cases. Similar to the legal system of Wales, the magistrates’ courts in Northern Ireland handle less severe criminal offenses and preliminary hearings for serious cases; they also hear some civil disputes. Northern Ireland also has magistrates’ courts, a Crown Court, county courts, a High Court, and a Court of Appeal, which all serve the same functions as their counterparts in the English and Welsh legal system. Following the establishment of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court in 2009, Northern Ireland’s appellate courts now refer their appeals to the Supreme Court. 

Scotland’s legal system is mixed with both civil and common law principles, pulling from sources of Roman and English law. The highest court in Scotland is the Court of Session, which comprises two levels. The highest level is the Inner House, which serves as the appellate court to the lower court, the Outer House. The Court of Session used to report to the House of Lords, but the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom now has the final say in civil appeals. The lowest court in the Scottish system is the sheriff court. Scotland is divided into numerous jurisdictions, known as sheriffdoms, where sheriff courts hear both civil and criminal cases regularly. Civil proceedings are typically decided by a judge by themselves, but criminal cases can have a jury of up to fifteen jurors. 

Rights and Liberties for Citizens

The rights of Citizens in the United Kingdom have a long history and have developed over time. The earliest point in history where legal rights popped up was with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, signed by King John. This charter acknowledged that subjects of the crown had rights and were subject to law and had the right to jury trials. Jumping forward to 1689 with the passage of the English Bill of Rights, this bill established the rights of Parliament while limiting the power of the monarchy, ultimately inspiring the United States’ Bill of Rights. The rights included freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, freedom from being fined without trial, and the freedom to petition the monarch. One of the largest advancements of legal rights was the passage of the Human Rights Act by Parliament in 1998. The law allows citizens of the United Kingdom to protect their rights in courts and legally compels organizations to treat everyone equally. Some of the rights the Act protects include free speech and peaceful protest, freedom from discrimination, protection of property, the right to an education, and the right to life. 

Comparison to the U.S. Legal System

A major similarity between the United States legal system and the United Kingdom’s is that they both adopt common law systems. The United States adopted some of these principles from the United Kingdom during the colonial period. After the Constitution established the three branches of government, courts began to make decisions based on federal and state statutes in addition to common law principles. Since the United Kingdom does not have a codified constitution, its courts differ from those in the United States and rely solely on judicial precedent to make informed decisions. When compared, terminology between the two countries’ legal professions can differ. For example, attorneys in the United States are commonly referred to as lawyers and litigators, whereas in the United Kingdom they are known as solicitors and barristers. 

Current Issues in the United Kingdom

A big current issue in the United Kingdom is how the government is addressing the rise of immigrants and the number of migrants entering the country. The legal and moral grounds of the recent immigration policy of the Reform Party have been criticized. For example, laws in the United Kingdom give protection to migrants who seek asylum so that they are not immediately detained. The Reform policy would prevent people from even settling in the country, and they would be turned around immediately. If this policy were to become law, then the asylum protections would be eradicated. Another controversial story that made international headlines came from a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in April. The court clarified that the definition of “woman” in the Equality Act refers to the biological sex assigned at birth. This decision creates barriers for transgender women in specific contexts, especially regarding legal and medical recognition. However, the Court upheld that under the Equality Act, transgender women are still protected from discrimination. Following the ruling, legal experts see the need to update equality legislation to ensure clear protections for members of marginalized groups in the United Kingdom. 

Tyler Horton is a senior majoring in political science.

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