British political system

government, law

United Kingdom

- constitutional monarchy
King Charles III.
- functions are symbolical (appointing ministers, judges, governors; giving
royal assent to legislation; summoning and dissolving parliament)

- Commander in Chief and the Supreme governor of the Church of

England and symbolical head of the Commonwealth

Parliament
- supreme legislative authority

- passing laws, voting taxation and public expenditure, examining

government policy

- consist of: 1. Sovereign

2. the House of Lords
- life pears, hereditary pears
- bishops and Archbishops
- Lord Chancellor (head of the House)
- they aren´t paid
- they can ask commons to reconsider their
decision
3. the House of Commons
- 630 elected members
- elected every 5 years
- Speaker (chairmen of the House)
- they are paid
- proceedings are public

Government
- political party with most of the seats
- Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak- leader of conservative party) chooses the
government ministers
- about 20 senior ministers form the Cabinet
- Cabinet meets twice a week at 10 Downing Street
Political parties
Main:
Conservative Party- opposed to great changes, supported by upper classes
Labour Party- social reform, working class
And other smaller parties (Liberal party, Scottish national party,…)

General elections
- the maximum term of a Parliament is five years from first meeting
- it can be called sooner by the government
- by law, general elections can be held any weekday, but since 1935 every
general elections has been held on a Thursday
- everyone can vote just for a local MP in their constituency
- Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch, the political party that wins
the elections usually forms a government and its leader becomes Prime
Minister
- elections can lead to so called hung Parliament in which no political party
wins a majority of seats. The largest party can form a minority
government or enter into a coalition with one or more other parties
Judicial power
- system of courts
- highest court is Supreme court established in 2005
- up to 2005 the House of Lords functioned as a highest court

Crime and punishment

crime (minor, serious, violent) x offence (přestupek)

- death penalty/ capital punishment
Death penalty was abolished in most of the countries, but in countries like United States, India,
China, and many Arabic and Asian states it´s still used a lot. In Europe it was abolished in all states
except Belarus.
In United Kingdom, death penalty was abolished in 1965 after Timothy Evans´s case which drawn
great attention, because he was wrongfully accused of murdering his wife and daughter.

Punishment is a really necessary thing to reduce criminality. But it should be adequate. I think that it
has still reason in our society even when many fines and penalties can seam useless for someone.
When you get fine for speeding because overstepped the maximal speed just by 5 km/h, you think it
´s stupid. But if there weren´t any kind of punishment, these offences would become more common.
Most of the small offences are resolved by policeman, but if we speak about some bigger crimes like
robberies, frauds or murders, the resolve by court is really needed. The time of judgement can be
often really long and also very expensive, so most of common people can´t afford to sue big firms,
because they wouldn´t win. The courts are often divided into some levels and system with the
highest court on the top. In Czech Republic the most important courts are here in Brno, so we are
judicial centre of the state. I thought about going study law here in Masaryk University, but I changed
my mind because it looked very boring and I didn´t like the acting of the professors and the students.
But it is still a option for me if I wouldn´t like the school where I´ll go.