君主立宪制 英文介绍

The Constitutional Monarchy The political system of UK is constitutional monarchy, a system of government in which a king or queen acts as Head of State, while the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected parliament. Contrary to absolutism or absolute monarchy where a monarchy rules with total power, the power of the monarch under constitutional monarchy is restrained by a parliament, by law or by custom; as in the United Kingdom the Sovereign reigns but does not rule.

The hereditary monarchy is the oldest secular institution of government in the UK, with roots that can be traced back to the Saxons who ruled from the 5th until the Norman Conquest in 1066. In over 1000 years, its continuity has been broken only once by Cromwell’s “Commonwealth”, which lasted from the execution of Charles I to the restoration of Charles II.

The origins of the constitutional monarchy, however, go back to the time when the leading nobles of England succeeded in forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Until the end of 17th century, British monarchs were executive monarchs, enjoying the rights to make and pass legislation.

The real sense constitutional monarchy started from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the subsequent Bill of Rights of 1689, which established basic tenets such as the supremacy of parliament. By the reign of George V, the principle of constitutional monarchy was firmly established in Britain. The constitutional monarchy we know today really developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, as day-to-day power came to be exercised by ministers in Cabinet and by Parliaments by a steadily-widening electorate.

In modern Britain, where class and privilege are no longer as important as they used to be, an institution like monarchy might seem obsolete. However, any serious attempt to abolish the monarchy would meet with violent opposition from all sectors of British society.

What then is the use of having a Monarch?

As a system of government, constitutional monarchy has its strengths. One is that it separates out the ceremonial and official duties of Head of State from party politics. Walter Bagehot, one of the most important Victorian writers on the subject of constitutional monarchy, describes the way in which monarchy symbolize the unity of the national community. “The nation is divided into parties, but the crown is of no party. Its apparent separation from business is that which removes it both from enmities and from desecration, which preserves its mystery, which enables it to combine the affection of conflicting parties...”

Besides, from the point of view of political power, according to Bagehot, the main influence of Sovereign is during a political ministry, for Sovereign has three rights: “the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn”. A Sovereign would, over the course of a long reign, accumulate far more knowledge and experience than any minister. Even though the Queen could do nothing to alter Cabinet decisions and never refuses her assent to something she disagrees with because she knows this would be unconstitutional, she sometimes has a definite and

beneficial influence on the kind of decisions taken.

More than this, the constitutional monarchy focus, as a long-established tradition, provides a sense of stability, continuity and a national focus, since the Head of State remains the same even as governments and politicians come and go according to elections won or lost. The Monarch is always there, above party quarrels, representing the nation as a whole, and lending dignity and significance to all things done in her name. The system bridges the discontinuity in times of political and social change. With more than five decades of reading State papers, meeting Heads of State and ambassadors and holding a weekly audience with the Prime Minister, The Queen has an unequalled store of experience upon which successive Prime Ministers have been able to draw.

The British Monarchy is the supreme illustration of the way British institutions develop. Violent upheavals are rare. Instead, the existing is slowly modified to suit fresh conditions, until in the end the impossible is achieved—a completely new system which still looks exactly like the old. And the pride of the British is that although it is illogical, it works.