THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
1. THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
In theory, the constitution has three branches: Parliament, which makes laws, the government, which "executes" laws, i.e. puts them into effect, and the law courts, which interpret laws. Although the Queen is officially head of all three branches, she has little direct power.
Parliament has two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650constituencies. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. The Prime Minister, or leader of the Governments, is also, an MP, usually the leader of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers. The Cabinet includes the ministers in charge of major government departments or ministries. Departments and ministries are run by civil servants, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.
The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, together with twenty-four senior bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers who have inherited their titles; life peers who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation; and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peers on their judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of some nine Law Lords who hold senior judicial office. They are presided over by the Lord Chancellor and they form a quorum of three to five when they hear appeal cases.
TASK 3. Answer the questions.
1. Which of these people are not elected: a peer, an MP, a civil servant, the Prime Minister?
2. What is the difference between life peers and hereditary peers, Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual?
3. What are civil servants?
4. Which areas of government do these people deal with: the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor?
5. Find two examples of executive organisations outside central government.
2. Making New Laws: Bills and Acts
The functions of Parliament are: making laws; providing money for the government through taxation; examining government policy, administration and spending; debating political questions.
Every year Parliament passes about a hundred laws directly, by making Acts of Parliament. Because this can be a long process, Parliament sometimes passes a very general law and leaves a minister to fill in the details. In this way, it indirectly passes about 2,000 additional rules and regulations.
No new law can be passed unless it has completed a number of stages in the House of Commons and, the House of Lords. The monarch also has to give a Bill the Royal Assent, which is now just a formality. Since 1707 no sovereign has refused a Bill. Whilst a law is still going through Parliament it is called a Bill. There are two main types of Bills - Public Bills which deal with matters of public importance and Private Bills which deal with local matters and individuals.
Public and Private Bills are passed through Parliament in much the same way. When a Bill is introduced in the House of Commons, it receives a formal first reading. It is then printed and read a second time, when it is debated but not mended. After the second reading the Bill is referred to a committee, either a special committee made up of certain members of the House, or to the House itself as a committee. Here it is discussed in detail and amended, if necessary. The Bill is then presented for a third reading and is debated. If the Bill is passed by the Commons it goes to the Lords, and provided it is not rejected by them, it goes through the same procedure as in the Commons. After receiving the Royal Assent the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament. In order to be enforced, it must be published in Statute form, becoming a part of Statute Law. The power of the Lords to reject a Bill has been severely curtailed. A money Bill must be passed by the Lords without amendment within a month of being presented in the House. The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage, of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it.
TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.
абсолютное большинство
отклонить законопроект
выдвинуть законопроект
налогообложение
внести поправку в законопроект
обсуждать политические вопросы
королевская санкция
ассигновать деньги для нужд правительства
принять закон
обсуждать законопроект
подробно обсудить
направить законопроект на рассмотрение
отложить принятие законопроекта
TASK 6. Answer the questions.
1. What is the difference between a Bill and an Act of Parliament?
2. What are the two types of Bills? Discuss the difference between them.
3. How many readings should a Bill receive to become an Act?
4. What is the role of the House of Lords in law-making process?
5. Which of the two Houses of Parliament has more power?
6. How does a Bill go through Parliament? How efficient and democratic is this process, in your opinion?
3. Members of Parliament in Great Britain
Each Member of Parliament (MP) represents one of 650 constituencies in the UK. British elections are usually fought between political parties, not individuals. Therefore, people who want to be elected to Parliament need to be nominated by one of the main political parties.
There is nothing to stop unconventional candidates from standing for election, however. A candidate has only to put down a deposit of 500 pounds and collect ten signatures from residents in the constituency where he wants to stand. A candidate who gets less than 5 per cent of the total votes loses his deposit. For somebody who is standing for election for publicity purposes, this is a small price to pay.
Although MPs will support a particular party, they are not controlled by that political party and theoretically do not have to vote with their party in Parliament. MPs represent everyone in the constituency, not just the people who voted for them.
A lot of MPs' work has nothing to do with voting in Parliament. There are hundreds of things MPs have to deal with in the day-to-day business of constituency life, such as housing or health care. MPs are there to help people and to try to make sure their rights under the law are not violated.
Some MPs hold an advice bureau in their constituencies, where people can go for advice. Anyone who feels that he has been unfairly treated by the central government can complain to their local MP who will do his best to see that the problem is solved.
Members of Parliament have been paid salaries since 1911. The rate has lately been nearly twice the average industrial worker's wages. Since 1965 the allowances for travel, living in London, and paying part-time secretaries and research assistants, have all been increased. Still many MPs insist that they need to have outside earnings, through journalism, work in the law courts or business, to enable them to live up to the standard they expect.
TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following phrases.
обращаться за советом
баллотироваться в своем избирательном округе
нарушать права
выдвинуть свою кандидатуру от партии
собирать подписи
участвовать в избирательной кампании в рекламных целях
средняя зарплата рабочего
несправедливо обойтись с кем-либо
TASK 5. Answer the questions.
1. Who can stand for elections in Great Britain?
2. What does the job of an MP consist of? Is it a job you would like to do?
3. Who does an MP represent?
4. Is the job of an MP a well-paid one?
5. Are there many women in Parliament in Great Britain? Can you compare this proportion to the proportion of women in the legislative body in your country?
4. The Election Timetable
The British government is elected for up to five years, unless it is defeated in Parliament on a major issue. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election, but does not have to wait until the end of the five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. Other politicians and the newspapers try very hard to guess which date the Prime Minister will choose.
About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party.
The date is announced to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament.
Once Parliament is dissolved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function.
Party manifestos are published and campaigning begins throughout the country, lasting for about three weeks with large-scale press, radio and television coverage.
Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday). The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes have been counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest.
As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government.
TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the phrases below.
избирательный округ
правящая партия
вопрос первостепенной важности
дать кому-либо преимущество
сформировать правительство
широкое освещение предвыборной кампании в прессе
5. The Federal Judiciary
The third branch of government, in addition to the legislative (Congress) and executive (President) branches, is the federal judiciary. Its main instrument is the Supreme Court, which watches over the other two branches. It determines whether or not their laws and acts are in accordance with the Constitution. Congress has the power to fix the number of judges sitting on the Court, but it cannot change the powers given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. They are nominated by the President but must be approved by the Senate. Once approved, they hold office as Supreme Court Justices for life. A decision of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed to any other court. Neither the President nor Congress can change their decisions. In addition to the Supreme Court, Congress has established 11 federal courts of appeal and, below them, 91 federal district courts.
The Supreme Court has direct jurisdiction in only two kinds of cases: those involving foreign diplomats and those in which a state is a party. All other cases which reach the Court are appeals from lower courts. The Supreme Court chooses which of these it will hear. Most of the cases involve the interpretation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court also has the "power of judicial review," that is, it has the right to declare laws and actions of the federal, state, and local governments unconstitutional. While not stated in the Constitution, this power was established over time.
TASK 14. Answer the questions.
1. What are the functions of the Supreme Court of the USA?
2. Who does the Supreme Court consist of?
3. How long do the Supreme Court Justices serve?
4. Are the Supreme Court Justices elected?
5. Who can change the decisions of the Supreme Court?
6. What lower courts, besides the Supreme Court, are there in the USA?
7. In what kinds of cases does the Supreme Court have direct jurisdiction?
8. What is the "power of judicial review"?
6. THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES
Checks and Balances
The Constitution provides for three main branches of government which are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are carefully balanced by the powers of the other two. Each branch serves as a check on the others. This is to keep any branch from gaining too much power or from misusing its powers. The chart below illustrates how the equal branches of government are connected and how each is dependent on the other two.
Congress has the power to make laws, but the President may veto any act of Congress. Congress, in its turn, can override a veto by a two-thirds vote in each house. Congress can also refuse to provide funds requested by the President. The President can appoint important officials of his administration, but they must be approved by the Senate. The President also has the power to name all federal judges; they, too, must be approved by the Senate. The courts have the power to determine the constitutionality of all acts of Congress and of presidential actions, and to strike down those they find unconstitutional.
The system of checks and balances makes compromise and consensus necessary. Compromise is also a vital aspect of other levels of government in the United States. This system protects against extremes. It means, for example, that new presidents cannot radically change governmental policies just as they wish. In the US, therefore, when people think of "the government", they usually mean the entire system, that is, the Executive Branch and the President, Congress, and the courts. In fact and in practice, therefore, the President (i.e. "the Administration") is not as powerful as many people outside the US seem to think he is. In comparison with other leaders in systems where the majority party forms "the government", he is much less so.
TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the expressions below.
быть связанным с
получить слишком большую власть
зависеть от
политика правительства
партия большинства
отклонить вето президента
одобрить
по сравнению с
TASK 4. Answer the questions
1. How are the powers of
a) the President;
b) Congress;
c) the Supreme Court limited by the system of checks and balances?
2. What is the role of compromise in the American system of running the country?
В контрольную включено множество заданий. Контрольная создана для тех, кто изучает право.
