英王与议会的关系

A study on the relationship between British Monarch and the
parliament
Britain’s political system is constitutional monarchy, which is opposite to the Monarchy
Autocracy. Constitutional monarchy reserves monarchy, but the power of the monarch is limited by
the country’s constitutional, set up people’s sovereignty, realize the Republic.
The world’s oldest constitutional monarchy is Britain. Britain is a country without a written
constitution, their constitutional is consisting of a series of documents and bills, and Great charter
signed by the monarch and nobilities was the legal basis of the constitutional monarchy. Until the
17th century, parliament was ruled by the king. Since the 15th century, the bourgeoisie and the new
aristocracy have growth and strengthen, this is the background. In 1689, there appeared a turning
point, The Bill of Rights passed by parliament in 1689. It was the first legal step towards
constitutional monarchy, it includes: The monarch must not enact a law or termination a law’s
implementation without the parliament’s agreement; Must not collection or control the taxes
without the parliament’s agreement and so on. Since then, the monarchy’s power was limited by the
parliament, the power of parliament ha grown steadily, while the power of the monarch has
weekend. The constitutional monarchy was established. The 1832 parliamentary reform is the
development period of the constitutional monarchy, the Bourgeoisie representative system was
established, it changed the electoral qualifications, lower the property and identity requirements of
the voters, increase the number of voters. The parliament is consisting of the elected MP, they on
behalf of the voter to exercise the power .This approach can prevent autocratic monarchy, and the
monarch lost the power of control the parliament. The current monarch is the Queen Elizabeth II, as
the relationship between British monarch and the parliament is developing, the queen’s situation is
reigns but does not govern, the parliament masters the real power, for example: Legislative power,
financial powers and Supervisory authority. On the surface, the Bill passed by the parliament need
the consent of the queen, in fact, this is just a form.
The parliament is consisting of The House of Lords and The House of Commons. The House
of Lords without power, The House of Commons master the power, so the actual British
government is the House of Commons. The government’s head is the prime minister, the monarch
has the power to appointment the prime minister, but this is just a form. So, we can draw a
conclusion that the monarch became a virtual; it seems that the monarch is useless; the British
monarch is still the important part of bourgeois state power. What can the monarch do without any
power? The monarch is the symbol of the highest power; enjoy the ceremonial duties, such as
encouraging right, warning right, and consultation rights.
Totally, there are many advantages in the relationship between British monarch and the
parliament. First, as the symbol of the state power; the monarch can maintain the national unity,
regulate the internal contradictions of the ruling class, at the same time, the monarch is the head of
British Commonwealth, plays an important role in maintain the Commonwealth. Second, it limits
the monarch’s power, prevent the monarch to tyranny, reflect the interests of the majority,
conducive to social stability. The constitutional monarchy has been greatly developed than the
previous monarchy. Last, because reserves monarchy is the compromise between the feudal class
and the bourgeois, it maintains domestic peace, and it’s beneficial to the development of industrial.