the United Kingdom; State investitures are still held at Buckingham Palace, although today honours may be bestowed without the personal attendance of the recipient upon the Sovereign. State processions are still an integral part of royal ceremonial; they grace such social occasions as the Ascot Race Meeting, known as Royal Ascot, and add significance to the opening of Parliament, when the Queen drives from Buckingham Palace accompanied by other members of the Royal family, officers of State and members of the Royal Household.
The Sovereign is the leader of society by order of general precedence dating from the fourteenth century and sustained until the present day by royal ordinances, ancient usage, established custom and the public will. The Queen's presence at the inauguration of scientific, artistic, industrial, and charitable works of national importance ensures nationwide interest and support.
The supreme legislative authority in the United Kingdom is the Queen in Parliament, that is to say the Queen and the two Houses of Parliament—the House of Lords and the House of Commons—which together represent all the elements in the nation.
The three sections of 'Parliament' in this sense are outwardly separate; they do different work in different places and meet only on occasions of great symbolic significance such as the Coronation or the opening of Parliament by the Queen in person, when the Commons are summoned by the Queen to the House of Lords. As a law-making organ of State, however, Parliament is a corporate body and cannot legislate without the concurrence of all its parts, except in the case of measures passed under the Parliament Act 1949[1]
There are other Parliaments in parts of Britain besides the Parliament at Westminster. There are, for instance, the ancient legislatures of the two Channel Island Bailiwicks and of the Isle of Man, each of which legislates on domestic matters although the United Kingdom Parliament retains the supreme authority.[2] There is also the Northern Ireland Parliament, created to perform specific functions by an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament.[3] The Northern Ireland Parliament consists of the Governor (as representative of the Queen), a Senate and a House of Commons, and is federal in type, certain legislative and fiscal powers being reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Parliament at Westminster, however, has no rival authority, and within practical limits there is nothing that it cannot legally do. By the passing of the Parliament Act, 1911, the normal life of a Parliament was fixed at five years (although it may be and often is dissolved in less than that time); and since one Parliament cannot bind its successor (for otherwise the succeeding Parliament would not be sovereign or supreme), each assembly has a period of time of up to five years during which it may legislate exactly as it chooses. During its life, it can make or unmake any law; it can destroy by statute the most firmly established convention of the constitution;
- ↑ See p. 25.
- ↑ The channel of communication between the United Kingdom Government and the local legislatures is the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who advises the Crown on the exercise of the royal prerogatives. The Queen is represented in each of the Channel Island Bailiwicks and in the Isle of Man by a Lieutenant-Governor.
- ↑ Under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, the Northern Ireland Parliament has power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Northern Ireland in relation to all domestic matters except those reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament, provided that such laws do not conflict with legislation passed by the United Kingdom Parliament and extending to Northern Ireland. Matters reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament include the postal services, the judiciary, the imposition of customs and excise duties and of income and profits taxes, and certain other services. The Northern Ireland Parliament has no power to legislate concerning such matters as defence and foreign relations.
