example of a so-called unwritten constitution. Important elements of the constitution of this country are The Magna Carta, The Petition of Rights, The Bill of Rights, and The Act of Settlement, all of which date to the early history of the nation. These ancient documents are joined by The Scotland Act of 1998, The Wales Act of 1998, and The Human Rights Act of 1998 as major elements of the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom (Barnett, 2002).
From the written-unwritten differentiation, other variances among national constitutions develop Constitutions are said to be either rigid or flexible. Written constitutions, on average, tend to be less flexible (more rigid) than unwritten constitutions (Finer, Suchet, and Rudder, 1995). In actual practice, the differences are not that great. The rigid constitution in the United States, as an example changes every time the Supreme Court reinterprets past rulings.
Constitutions also tend to be either federal or unitary in character. The Canadian constitution, as an example, is a federal constitution because it governs the relationships between national and provincial governments by providing clearly stated rights and obligations of the different levels of government. The constitution of the United Kingdom is held to be unitary in character because Parliament is the supreme authority. The introduction of the Scotland Act and the Wales Act in 1998, however, altered the unitary character of the constitution in this country to some extent in practice At its core, however, the constitution remains unitary because Parliament has the ultimate power to nullify the Scotland Act and the Wales Act if it so chooses (Jenkins, 2003).
Yet another challenge to the supremacy of parliament in the United Kingdom was the Human Rights Act of 1998. Adopting the Human Rights Act as British law conferred specific rights to individuals independent of Parliament, as well as providing procedures for...