1. When was the latest Constitution written? What does this say about the countries’ rule of law?
The United Kingdom’s constitution was written in 1215 and was last revised in 2013. This shows that the rule of law has remain relatively consistent besides being updated to keep up with the times. China’s constitution was adopted in 1982 and revised in 2004, which shows that China’s current rule of law is a little bit more modernized.
2. Are the three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) mentioned in the document?
Yes, the United Kingdom mentions its parliament, three judicial systems in its different regions (Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England/Wales) and also outlines the powers of its monarch such as the ability to dismiss
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What types of rights are protected by the different constitutions? (political, economic, or/and social)
In the United Kingdom’s constitution, the people are given rights such as the right to life, thought, religion, and expression. The citizens of the People’s Republic of China are allowed freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, precession, demonstration and religious belief.
4. Out of the two constitutions you looked at, which provided the greatest amount of protection?
The United Kingdom’s constitution provided more protection because in China, the central governing party is the Communist Party and although power is given to the National People’s Congress to make decisions, most of those members belong to the founding Communist Party.
5. What do you think is missing from the two documents?
The People’s Republic of China’s constitution does declare it a socialist state and gives power to the National People’s Congress, but is missing the fact that all power is given to the Communist Party. The constitution of the United Kingdom is missing a single document to represent the constitution because it is made up of so many different documents.
6. What is unique about your documents? Anything written in it that we do not have in our
Thus, another difference between the constitution between China and the United States is the structure of each government. In China, the power is held in the hands of people, as the first article of China’s constitution mentions that “All power in the People's Republic of China belongs to the people.”, and in those of elected people in National People's Congress and the local
In this world there are many different constitutions. While many of them are long, they can be short. Many constitutions were written a long time ago, while some were just written recently or just a few years ago. The ones that were made a long time ago have even been passed down and changed for people to understand now. Even though all constitution have similarities, they all have differences between each other as well.
Under the British constitution, parliament is sovereign. This means, amongst other things, that Parliament has a monopoly on making and amending laws. The British constitution, and the three functions of government which operate it often falls short of creating a definitive separation. Separation of powers refers to the idea that the major institutions of government should function independent of each other, in a utopian world there should aim to be a balance between the Crown and Parliament. In practice however, separation between the executive and legislature is near enough non-existent, an example being that government is made up almost entirely of MPs. Contrast this with the USA where no member of Obama’s government is equally a member of congress. However, the USA does have a codified constitution, a constitution written to delegate a clear separation of power. As we are well aware the UK doesn’t have such a constitution, the rules that
The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Unwritten Constitution in the UK The UK has an unwritten constitution unlike the U.S.A. Instead Britain's laws, policies and codes are developed through statutes, common law, convention and more recently E.U law. It is misleading to call the British constitution unwritten; a more precise form of classification would be un-codified. This means that the British constitution has no single document, which states principles and rules of a state. However, The British constitution clearly sets out how political power is allocated and where it is legally located. The British constitution is still visible and it defines composition and powers of the main offices and
From 600 BCE to 600 CE, China experienced changes in its political system in terms of the dissimilar ruling styles of different leaders, the rule under Legalism, and the influence of philosophical thinking like Daoism. These changes, influenced by aspects of the world and its own region, shaped China into its Classical state. In contrast, the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, the civil service system, and the significance of unity through a strong central government remained constant throughout China’s Classical period. These continuities followed through, staying essentially the same as an important part of China’s identity.
Britain, to begin with, has no written constitution due to the country’s own constitutional structure’s stability. It remains uncodified, yet it’s legal sources stem from Acts of parliament, European Union law, equity and common law,. Therefore the varying powers of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law will be considered against these sources.
The Chinese constitution from 1982 says that China “is a socialist state under the people's democratic
Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophy of administration that believes that humans are more inclined to do wrong than right because they are motivated entirely by self-interest. Shi Huangdi was the founder of the Qin dynasty. After conquering the seven kingdoms in ancient China, he halted the Warring States Period and took the throne as the first emperor of the unified Chinese nation. He ruled on the basis of Legalism. To prevent criticism of his rule, Shi Huangdi ordered that all books that seemed to be useless or against him be burned. This included all poetry from the Chou dynasty and all books written by Confucian scholars. The only books from previous eras that Shi Huangdi let off were the practical ones about medicine and farming. Focusing on the issue of media censorship, the current Chinese government governs in a similar way to the way Qin Shi Huangdi once governed. China still blocks and monitor citizens access to several social media services and shuts down media entertainment programs during government events. While some may see this as an extreme form of censorship, we must consider the fact that several other countries have similar policies in place.
In both China and the United States, the judicial system is composed of courts that contain several different levels. However, there is a basic structural difference between the Chinese and American legal systems. In America, the three branches of government are supposed to be separate, so that the court system is supposed to be beyond party politics and partisan antics. This separate system of checks and balances does not exist in China. On the contrary, the judicial branch is not independent. It is meant as an extension of the government, and therefore of the single political party with any power in China. The distinction between American judicial independence and Chinese judicial dependence may be one of the most critical differences between the two systems because the American judicial branch is meant to act as a check and balance with the other systems, while China's three-part system has the same branches but lacks the same independence.
There is also no freedom of speech in China. Authors of the criticizing articles about China were executed under the reason, “protection of state
China has been a communist country since the communist revolution took place in 1949, since then China has been ruled by the dictator Mao Tse-Tung. However the Chinese dictator died in September 1976, he was hailed abroad as one of the worlds’ great leaders. Certainly one of the more impressive aspects of the Chinese communist government, has been the willingness of the people to protest against it (3, pg. 4).
A Constitution is a set of rules that help govern the country, there are many different types of constitution but the two most commonly known are uncodified and codified. The British constitution has grown over time,
However, just because there is a written constitution does not ensure the rights of a countries citizens will receive their rights – rather, it could lead to an elective dictatorship which might further restrict rights and may go on to persecute some of its citizens, which happened in Germany and resulted in the Second World War.
In the article by ‘Ignazio Castellucci’, he defines the term rule by law rather than the western rule of law1. As
However, an international or global constitution cannot be gained by simply scaling up a typical state constitution. The term ‘constitutional law’ is preferred over ‘constitution’ to highlight that this body of law is not codified in one single document, but is dispersed in various treaties, soft law texts, and customary law. The U.N. Charter is not the World Constitution. Global constitutional law is a subset of international rules and principles which are so important that they deserve the label ‘constitutional’.