do france, spain, and the UK all have constitutional governments?

Answer 1

So to speak. Of the three only the UK has no written constitution, unless you count the Treaty of Rome (and subsequent EU treaties) and the European Convention on Human Rights.

These two are brought into English, Scottish and Northern Irish law by two super-laws: the European Communities Act 1972 and the Human Rights Act 1998. (See Wikipedia if you want to know more.)

Other than that, we have Magna Charta and a long Common Law tradition. But Parliament is sovereign and no parliament can bind a later one; so other than the two super-laws I mentioned, there is nothing to stop the party in power from diminishing rights. As may well happen if terror remains a threat. Think of the USA PATRIOT Act: arguably a serious diminution of civil rights, it is unlikely to be struck down by a concerned judiciary, especially one appointed by a right-wing president.

Contrary to what another Answer claims, the body of UK (English, Scottish, NI) statutes (other than the two super-laws) does not constitute a Constitution because it does not in any way bind Parliament. What is true is that in case of doubt, the unwritten Common Law (based on the reported decisions of generations of judges) prevails. This is why modern statutes go into great detail with definitions and contingencies. (The same is true in the USA: Congress tends not to want to give judges discretion.)

You can find some collected old English cases, still in at least some respects good law, here:
http://www.geocities.com/englishreports/index.html

Unlike lawyers in US courts, English barristers tend to cite very old cases. This is because overruling of cases is far more complicated, and far harder to do in England than in America. Until relatively recently even the House of Lords Judicial Committee (the country's highest court, also known as the Privy Council, for non-UK cases) could not over-rule itself. But the Court itself changed its own rule and now it can.

(Do not think that English law students don't study constitutional law: of course they do. But the constitution, as I said, is less concrete than that of the USA and of other European and Commonwealth countries.)

Answer 2

The UK has an implied constitution - there isn't a written one, but there are hundreds and hundreds of years of laws which effectively amount to a constitution.

Answer 3

yes