quote:
Originally posted by Barry the Sprout:
I get this a lot in my politics classes 
. We do have a constitution, it is a common mistake to assume that because it is not of the same form as the American one it does not exist. Our constitution is for the most part written, but it is not codified, and it has been so since the Magna Carta. It comes from:
1. Statue law,
2. Case law,
3. EU law (regulations bypass parliament altogether),
4. Works of authority (Bagehot, Dicey, and the like),
5. Where all else fails - convention and precedent.
And therein lies the root of the problem. There is not a fundamental set of rules and regulations that underpin the system. For example, it is my understanding there are no
absolute rights that a U.K. citizen can insist upon against the State. What we have is
absolute freedom unless we are forbidden to act by one of the methods of restricting this freedom mentioned above.
This may seem a reasonable state of affairs and indeed, it does lend itself to more rapid and flexible adaptation to changing circumstances. But it also has the major disadvantage that the Executive can further restrict or remove any of the freedoms that the populace enjoy by statute, and the citizens so affected have no recourse to an overarching fundamental constitution should they wish to challenge such a decision.