United Kingdom''s Constitution of 1215 with Amendments through 2013

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United Kingdom's

Constitution of 1215 withAmendments through 2013

Closing Text: General Saving Observance of these Liberties Subsidy, in respect of this Charter and Charter of the Forest

45 The Petition of Right 1628

45 I Reciting that by (25) 34 Ed I st 4 c 1, by Authority of Parliament holden 25 Ed III and by

other Laws of this Realm, the Kings Subjects should not be taxed but by Consent in Parliament I Sheriff, &c.; within Three Days after Service of Habeas Corpus, with the Exception of Treason and Felony, as and under the Regulations herein mentioned, to bring up the Body before the Court to which the Writ is returnable; and certify the true Causes of Imprisonment Exceptions in respect of Distance

49 II How Writs to be marked Persons committed, except for Treason and Felony, &c.; may

appeal to the Lord Chancellor, &c.; Proceedings thereon Habeas Corpus may be awarded; and upon Service thereof the Officer to bring up the Prisoners as before mentioned; and thereupon within Two Days Lord Chancellor, &c.; may discharge upon Recognizance; and certify the Writ with the Return and Recognizance Proviso for Process not bailable

50 III Habeas Corpus not granted in Vacation to Prisoners who have neglected to pray the same

50 IV Officer neglecting, &c.; to make the said Returnes, &c.; or upon Demand to deliver a Copy of Warrant of Commitment; First Offence, Penalty £100 Second Offence, £200 and Incapacity Judgment at Suit of Party sufficient Conviction

50 V Proviso as to Imprisonment of Party after having been set at large upon Habeas Corpus.

Unduly recommitting such discharged Persons or assisting therein; Penalty to the Party £500 VIII Persons committed for criminal Matter not to be removed but by Habeas Corpus or other legal Writ Unduly making out, &c.; Warrant for Removal; Penalty

51 IX Proviso for Application for and granting Habeas Corpus in Vacation-time Lord Chancellor, &c.; unduly denying Writ; Penalty to Party £500

52 X Habeas Corpus may be directed into Counties Palatine, &c;

52 XI No subject to be sent Prisoner into Scotland, &c.; or any Parts beyond the Seas Persons so imprisoned may maintain Action against the Person committing or otherwise acting in respect thereof, as herein mentioned; Treble Costs and Damages; and the Person so committing or acting disabled from Office, and incur Premunire 16 R 11 c 5 and be incapable of Pardon Heading 15: Recital that the late King James II had abdicated the Government, and that the Throne was vacant, and that the Prince of Orange had written Letters to the Lords and Commons for the choosing Representatives in Parliament

Heading 34: Acceptance of the Crown The Two Houses to sit Subjects’ Liberties to be

allowed, and Ministers hereafter to serve according to the same William and Mary declared King and Queen Limitation of the Crown Papists debarred the Crown Every King, &c.; shall make the Declaration of 30 Car II If under 12 Years old, to be done after Attainment thereof King’s and Queen’s Assent I Recital of Stat 1 W & M Sess 2 c 2 §2 and that the late Queen and Duke of Gloucester are dead; and that His Majesty had recommended from the Throne a further Provision for the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line The Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, Daughter of the late Queen of Bohemia, Daughter of King James the First, to inherit after the King and the Princess Anne, in Default of Issue of the said Princess and His Majesty, respectively and the Heirs of her Body, being Protestants

63 II The Persons inheritable by this Act, holding Communion with the Church of Rome,

incapacitated as by the former Act; to take the Oath at their Coronation, according to Stat 1 Preamble: Recital of Articles of Union, dated 22d July, 5 Ann.; and of an Act of Parliament

passed in Scotland, 16th January, 5 Ann Article XIX: Court of Session Writers to the Signet admitted Lords of Session Court of

Justiciary Other Courts Causes in Scotland not cognizable in Courts in Westminster Hall

68 Article XX: Heritable Offices, &c;

II Acts of Scotland herein mentioned, confirmed; Universities and colleges of Saint Andrew, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, to continue; Subjects not liable to Oath, Test, or

Subscription, inconsistant with the Presbyterian Church Government; Successor to swear to maintain the said Settlement of Religion; This Act to be held a fundamental Condition of Union, and to be inserted in any Act of Parliament for concluding the said Union; This Ratification of the said Articles not binding until they are ratified by Parliament of England, &c.; Laws contrary to Articles void V Cap 8 ante, and the said Act of Parliament of Scotland to be observed as fundamental

Conditions of the said Union; and the said Articles and Acts of Parliament to continue the Union

73 VI Recital of Act of Parliament of Scotland for settling Election of the Sixteen Peers and

Forty-five Members for Scotland Article First: That Great Britain and Ireland shall upon Jan 1, 1801, be united into one

kingdom; and that the titles appertaining to the crown, &c.; shall be such as his Majesty shall 1 That such Act as shall be passed in Ireland to regulate the mode of summoning and

returning the lords and commoners to serve in the united Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be considered as part of the treaty of union

76 2 That any peer of Ireland may be elected to serve in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless previously elected to sit in the House of Lords, but shall not be entitled to the privilege of peerage, etc

76 3 His Majesty may create peers, and make promotions in the peerage of Ireland after the

union, under certain regulations

77 4 Peerages in abeyance to be deemed existing peerages, and no peerage to be deemed

extinct but on default of claim for a year after the death of the late possessor If a claim be after that period made and allowed, and a new creation shall have taken place in the interval, no new right of creation shall accrue to his Majesty on the next extinction of a peerage

77 5 Questions touching the election of members to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland shall be decided as questions touching such elections in Great Britain

77 6 When his Majesty shall declare his pleasure for holding a Parliament of the United

Kingdom, a proclamation shall issue to cause the lords and commons, who are to serve on the part of Ireland to be returned as shall be provided by any Act of the present session in Ireland

78 7 The lords of Parliament on the part of Ireland shall have the same privileges as the lords on the part of Great Britain, and all lords spiritual of Ireland shall have rank next after the lords spiritual of the same rank of Great Britain, and shall enjoy the same privileges, (except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords), and the temporal peers of Ireland shall have rank next after the peers of the like rank in Great Britain at the time of the union; and all peerages of Ireland and of the United Kingdom created after the union shall have rank according to creation; and all peerages of Great Britain and of Ireland shall, in all other respects, be considered as peerages of the United Kingdom, and the peers of Ireland shall enjoy the same privileges, except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords

78 Article Fifth: The churches of England and Ireland to be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church, and the doctrine of the Church of Scotland to remain as now established

79 1 The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation, and in all treaties with foreign powers the subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges as British subject

79 2 From January 1, 1801, all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles the produce or manufacture of either country to the other shall cease

79 3 All articles the produce or manufacture of either country, not herein-after enumerated as subject to specific duties, shall be imported into each country from the other, duty free, other than the countervailing duties in the Schedule No 1 or to such as shall hereafter be imposed by the united Parliament

80 4 Articles of the produce or manufacture of either country, subject to internal duty, or to

duty on the materials, may be subjected on importation into each country to countervailing duties, and upon their export a drawback of the duty shall be allowed

80 5 Articles the produce or manufacture of either country when exported through the other, shall be subject to the same charges as if exported directly from the country of which they were the produce or manufacture

81 1 All laws in force at the union, and all courts of jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain, subject to such alterations as may appear proper to the united Parliament All appeals to be finally decided by the peers of the United Kingdom There shall remain in Ireland a Court of Admiralty, and appeals therefrom shall be to the delegates in Chancery there All laws contrary to the provisions enacted for carrying these articles into effect to be repealed

81 2 His Majesty having been pleased to approve of the foregoing articles, it is enacted, that

they shall be the articles of union, and be in force for ever, from Jan 1, 1801; provided that before that period an Act shall have been passed in Ireland for carrying them into effect

82 1 Recital of an Act of the Parliament of Ireland to regulate the mode by which the lords and the commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned

34 Power of High Court to order disclosure of documents, inspection of property etc in

proceedings for personal injuries or death

16A Appointment of First Minister, deputy First Minister and Northern Ireland Ministers following Assembly election

Schedules 11-15: [Schedules 11-15 Omitted due to lenghth - full text of schedules can be

found online at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/47/schedules]

4 General election for Scottish Parliament not to fall on same date as parliamentary general election under section 1(2)

704 5 General election for National Assembly for Wales not to fall on same date as parliamentary general election under section 1(2)

704 6 Supplementary provisions

704 7 Final provisions

Magna Carta 1297

•Source of constitutional authority

THE GREAT CHARTER OF THE LIBERTIES OF ENGLAND, AND OF THE LIBERTIES OF THE FOREST; CONFIRMED BY KING EDWARD, IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF HIS REIGN.

EDWARD by the Grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Guyan, to all Archbishops, Bishops, &c We have seen the Great Charter of the Lord Henry sometimes King of England, our Father, of the Liberties of England in these words:

•Political theorists/figures•God or other deities•Reference to country's history

HENRY by the Grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Guyan, and Earl of Anjou, to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, Sheriffs, Provosts, Officers, and to all Bailiffs, and other our faithful Subjects, which shall see this present Charter, Greeting: Know Ye, that We, unto the honour of Almighty God, and for the salvation of the souls of our Progenitors and Successors [Kings of England,] to the advancement of Holy Church and amendment of our Realm, of our meer and free will, have given and granted to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and to all [Freemen] of this our Realm, these Liberties following, to be kept in our Kingdom of England for ever.

•Political theorists/figures•God or other deities

•Motives for writing constitution•Reference to country's history•Mentions of social class

I Confirmation of Liberties

•Freedom of religion•God or other deities•Separation of church and state•Mentions of social class

FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.

IX Liberties of London, &c

•Municipal government

THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs [which it hath been used to have] Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, and all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and

•Guarantee of due process•Protection from unjustified restraint•Jury trials required

•Mentions of social class

•Principle of no punishment without law

NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.

Closing Text: General Saving Observance of these

Liberties Subsidy, in respect of this Charter and Charter ofthe Forest

Reserving to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Templars, Hospitallers, Earls, Barons, and all Persons, as well Spiritual as Temporal, all their free Liberties and free Customs, which they have had in time passed And all these Customs and Liberties aforesaid, which We have granted to be holden within this our Realm, as much as appertaineth to Us and our Heirs, we shall observe; and all Men of this our Realm, as well Spiritual as Temporal, as much as in them is, shall observe the same against all Persons, in like wise And for this our Gift and Grant of these Liberties, and of other contained in our Charter of Liberties of our Forest, the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, Knights, Freeholders, and other our Subjects, have given unto Us the Fifteenth Part of all their Moveables And We have granted unto them on the other part, that neither We nor our Heirs shall procure or do any thing whereby the Liberties in this Charter contained shall be infringed or broken And if any thing be procured by any person contrary to the premises, it shall be had of no force nor effect These being Witnesses; Lord B Archbishop of Canterbury, E Bishop of London, J Bishop of Bathe, P of Winchester, H of Lincoln, R of Salisbury, W of Rochester, W of Worcester, J of Ely, H of Hereford, R of Chichester, W of Exeter, Bishops; the Abbot of St Edmonds, the Abbot of St Albans, the Abbot of Bello, the Abbot of St Augustine’s in Canterbury, the Abbot of Evesham, the Abbot of Westminster, the Abbot of Bourgh St Peter, the Abbot of Reding, the Abbot of Abindon, the Abbot of Malmsbury, the Abbot of Winchcomb, the Abbot of Hyde, the Abbot of Certesey, the Abbot of Sherburn, the Abbot of Cerne, the Abbot of Abbotebir, the Abbot of Middleton, the Abbot of Seleby, the Abbot of Cirencester; H de Burgh Justice, H Earl of Chester and Lincoln, W Earl of Salisbury, W Earl of Warren, G de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, W de Ferrars Earl of Derby, W de Mandeville Earl of Essex, H de Bygod Earl of Norfolk, W Earl of Albemarle, H Earl of Hereford, J Constable of Chester, R de Ros, R Fitzwalter, R de Vyponte, W de Bruer, R de Muntefichet, P Fitzherbert, W de Aubenie, F Gresly, F de Breus, J de Monemue, J Fitzallen, H de Mortimer, W de Beauchamp, W de St John, P de Mauly, Brian de Lisle, Thomas de Multon, R de Argenteyn, G de Nevil, W de Mauduit, J de Balun, and others.

•General guarantee of equality•Mentions of social class

We, Ratifying and approving these Gifts and Grants aforesaid, confirm and make strong all the same for Us and our Heirs perpetually, and by the Tenor of these Presents do renew the same: Willing and granting for Us and our Heirs, that this Charter and all and singular his Articles for ever shall be stedfastly, firmly, and inviolably observed; and if any Article in the same Charter contained yet hitherto peradventure hath not been kept We will and by authority royal command from henceforth firmly they be observed.

In Witness whereof We have caused these our Letters Patents to be made T Edward our son at Westminster, the twenty-eighth day of March in the twenty-eighth year of our Reign.