Constitutional History of the UK

552 Pages·2016·11.031 MB·English

by  Ann Lyon

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CONSTITUTIONAL
HISTORY OF THE UK
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S Ann Lyon
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a Second edition published 2016
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a, b2 yP Rarok uStqleudagree , Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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r and by Routledge
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f 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
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a Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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f © 2016 Ann Lyon
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y The right of Ann Lyon to be identified as author of this work has been
it asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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r Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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i All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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U utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
[ known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
y any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
b from the publishers.
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e Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
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a registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
o without intent to infringe.
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w First edition published by Cavendish, 2003
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D British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-91066-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-91067-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-56231-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
CONTENTS
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g Preface to the second edition v
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D Acknowledgements viii
n Map and genealogical tables x
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Table of cases xxvii
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i Table of statutes xxviii
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li Introduction 1
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o 1 The development of English law and government prior to the
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t Norman Conquest 9
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i 2 The Norman Conquest and after, 1066–1189 28
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y 3 Magna Carta and its genesis 1189–1216 50
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d 4 The birth of parliament: the reign of Henry III 1216–72 65
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6 A king dethroned: Edward II 1307–27 94
7 Edward III 1327–77 113
8 Sad stories of the death of kings: Richard II 124
9 The fifteenth century 146
iv Contents
10 Government and royal justice in the later Middle Ages 165
11 The early Tudors 1485–1547 177
12 The children of Henry VIII 195
7 13 The genesis of civil war 1603–42 214
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n 19 The reform era 334
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a, 20 An increasing role for government 351
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if 21 The later nineteenth century 370
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f 22 Queen Victoria and the emergence of constitutional monarchy 387
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s 23 Two constitutional crises: 1906–14 393
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b 25 The emergence of modern monarchy: the twentieth century 423
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a 26 Britain and Europe: the European Union 442
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o 27 Devolution 464
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28 The European Convention on Human Rights and the
Human Rights Act 1998 493
Index 516
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
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g Much has happened in the constitutional sphere since this book was first published
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D early in 2003, more still since the text was completed in the summer of 2002. There
n have been major developments via legislation; the breaking-u p of the office of Lord
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S Chancellor and the creation of the Supreme Court under the Constitutional
a, Reform Act 2005, and the introduction of fixed- term Parliaments (Fixed- Term
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r Parliaments Act 2011), so that no longer can a sitting Prime Minister time a General
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if Election to the best advantage of his own party. This has also abolished a major
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C royal prerogative, albeit one whose exercise was tightly constrained by constitu-
f tional convention, that of dissolving Parliament and thus provoking a General Elec-
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y tion. Major changes have been made to the financing of the monarchy, and to the
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si royal succession under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, prompted by the
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v imminent birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
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n Not only this, but the effects of legislation that had only recently come into
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[ force in 2002 are now, 13 years later, fully apparent. In 2002 the devolution settle-
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b ment affecting Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and their constitutional relation-
d ship with the United Kingdom was only three years old; the Human Rights Act
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a had been in force barely two years and case law was only beginning to emerge.
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l Less formal constitutional change continues. As a result of the inconclusive elec-
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w tion of 2010, in which no party achieved an overall majority for the first time since
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D 1974, the United Kingdom gained its first coalition government since the Second
World War. The Coalition Agreement provided specifically for modifications to
the established convention of cabinet collective responsibility and the consequent
duty of confidentiality in relation to cabinet discussions. Unprecedentedly, in the
autumn of 2013 a Prime Minister, David Cameron, sought Parliamentary approval
for military intervention in Syria. When this was not forthcoming, he declared that
there would be no such intervention. It has been suggested that this creates a new
vi Preface to the second edition
constitutional convention, that a Prime Minister will no longer rely solely on pre-
rogative powers to deploy troops on operations abroad.
Perhaps inevitably, much remains in a state of flux. The EU Constitution in the
process of ratification in 2002 was rejected by the people of France and the Neth-
erlands in national referendums. A modified version was subsequently implemented
as the Treaty of Lisbon. Britain’s membership of the EU remains politically contro-
7 versial. David Cameron, again Prime Minister after the 2015 General Election
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0 produced a small Conservative majority, has stated his intention to renegotiate the
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y terms of UK membership of the EU, and then to hold a national ‘in/out’ referen-
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a dum before the end of 2017. Meanwhile, the much-h eralded modernisation of the
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n House of Lords is no nearer.
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4 J The current government has also announced plans to repeal the Human Rights
1 Act and, possibly, withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
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3 Following the rejection of proposals for Scottish independence in the September
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1 2014 referendum, the Scottish Nationalists won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the
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t General Election. It was announced after the independence referendum that there
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] would be changes to the devolution settlement, but little in the way of firm propos-
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g als has emerged. Doubtless any changes affecting Scotland will be replicated in
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D Wales and Northern Ireland, and calls to give England its own assembly with similar
n powers, or, at least, the resolution of the West Lothian Question, under which MPs
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S representing Scottish constituencies may speak and vote on matters exclusive to
ia, England, but not the reverse. Changes to judicial review procedure are forthcom-
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r ing, along with reductions in legal aid for judicial review, both, perhaps cynically,
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if intended to reduce the opportunity for individuals and groups to challenge execu-
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C tive action – or inaction.
f In relation to less recent times, scholarship continues to provide new insights.
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y There is a new volume on the early development of the medieval Parliament. The
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s gaps in the Yale English Monarchs series – now the English Monarchs series – are
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v rapidly being filled, so that we have new scholarly biographies of Stephen, Edward
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n II and Edward III, although we still await a similar volume on Henry III, whose
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[ 56-year reign saw the emergence of the first recognisable parliaments. There is also
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b a revisionist biography of Robert of Normandy, eldest son of William I, in which
d the subject emerges not as the incompetent spendthrift of traditional accounts, but,
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a like his nephew King Stephen, as a brave and skilful fighting man, who was never-
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l theless too chivalrous and insufficiently ruthless to be a successful ruler, particularly
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w when facing two avaricious and unscrupulous brothers.
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D Some things, happily, remain constant. As I completed the first edition, Queen
Elizabeth II had reached her Golden Jubilee. In 2012 the nation celebrated her
Diamond Jubilee. As I write this, she is two months from becoming Britain’s
longest- reigning monarch, surpassing the 63 years and seven months of her great-
great-grandmother Queen Victoria. The Prince of Wales is in the perhaps less
sought- after position of the oldest-e ver heir apparent, and continues to redefine the
role. With the popularity of the current younger generation, the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge and their young family, and the Duke’s younger brother, Prince
Preface to the second edition vii
Harry, the long- term future of the monarchy seems much more assured than it was
at the beginning of the twenty-fi rst century, when controversy over the life and
death of Diana Princess of Wales still raged. Nevertheless, the marriage of the
Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005 engendered considerable con-
troversy, as a result of which the lady was styled Duchess of Cornwall and it was
announced that she would in due time be known as the Princess Consort rather
7 than Queen Consort. More recently there has been controversy over the prince’s
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0 political role, and there remains a proportion of the population who believe that he
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y should renounce his place in the royal succession in favour of his elder son.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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g This is the point where an author thanks all the people who have helped them in
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D the long and difficult process of writing the manuscript, either directly, or indirectly
n by providing sustenance, accommodation in picturesque places and moral support.
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S In writing the acknowledgements for this second edition, I look back to those who
a, were vital in the genesis of the original book, and those who have supported me in
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r bringing the new version to fruition.
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if I think first of Professor David Hughes, a colleague during my time at De Mont-
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C fort University, who will, I trust, remain happy to be described as the godfather of
f this book. I remember in particular his emphasis on the importance of constitu-
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y tional myth. Then I think of the late Professor Sir James Holt, who would doubtless
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si have had trenchant but entirely accurate things to say about the mythology of
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v Magna Carta had he lived into this, its 800th anniversary year.
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n As before I must thank colleagues and students not only at De Montfort Univer-
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[ sity and Swansea University, but also current colleagues and students at Plymouth
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b (alas students continue to ask me why I am telling them about babies and warming
d pans). After another 13 years my passion for history continues, and I must therefore
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a thank those who nurtured it: my parents, teachers and university tutors, in par-
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l ticular Professor John Cannon, who made sure seminars on eighteenth- century
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w Europe went with a swing by holding them at lunchtime over a couple of bottles
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D of wine. From him, and from Professor William Speck, who devoted an entire
lecture to Restoration comedy and another to drink in the eighteenth century, I
learned the importance of context in any study of politics and governmental
institutions.
Once again, I must thank Frederick Hogarth for producing the maps and genea-
logical tables, and the editorial team at Routledge for accepting my arguments for
producing a second edition, and then getting it to publication. Kevin Tuhey has
been a rock in my personal life over the last ten years.
Acknowledgements ix
In December 2002, when I wrote the acknowledgements to the first edition,
Queen Elizabeth II had just celebrated her Golden Jubilee. Thirteen years later, she
has passed her Diamond Jubilee, surpassed her great-g reat-grandmother Queen
Victoria as our longest reigning monarch and now approaches her ninetieth
birthday. Once again, this book is dedicated to her.
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