Why doesn't Britain have or need a constituion?

Answer 1

It has, you silly git.

Answer 2

Britain does have a constitution. There are numerous documents which outline precisely what powers and limitations apply to the various branches of government, the monarchy and the justice system.
What Britain lacks compared to most other countries is a single document which you can point at and call 'the Constitution'. This is probably because our political system has evolved slowly without ever drastically overhauling the whole thing from scratch. Most countries wrote their constitutions in one go after a revolution or declaration of independence. Britain never really had a comparable experience (even after the civil war we went back to a monarchy pretty quickly) so some pretty ancient documents still have legal status.

Answer 3

we have one

A constitution is a set of laws on how a country is governed. The British Constitution is unwritten, unlike the constitution in America or the proposed European Constitution, and as such, is referred to as an uncodified constitution in the sense that there is no single document that can be classed as Britain's constitution. The British Constitution can be found in a variety of documents. Supporters of our constitution believe that the current way allows for flexibility and change to occur without too many problems. Those who want a written constitution believe that it should be codified so that the public as a whole has access to it – as opposed to just constitutional experts who know where to look and how to interpret it.

Amendments to Britain’s unwritten constitution are made the same way – by a simply majority support in both Houses of Parliament to be followed by the Royal Assent.

The British Constitution comes from a variety of sources. The main ones are:

Statutes such as the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Act of Settlement of 1701.
Laws and Customs of Parliament; political conventions
Case law; constitutional matters decided in a court of law

Answer 4

Britain does have a constitution, they are a constitutional monarchy. The Magna Carta, and they have a Bill of rights

Answer 5

Agree with chavito. I would say the Magna Carta and similar documents make up a constitution.

Answer 6

Because we haven't got around to it yet because the government is power hungry, and builds all sorts of safeguards into it's acts so they can be overturned instantly. Like the human rights act, which has so much BS into it it's pretty much meaningless.

A big part of it goes like this:

"A person has a right to freedom of speech...

Unless it reduces the party-in-governments popular standing, is obscene, or is morally unhealthy"

So, that's pretty much everything. "Equal rights for gays!" "Hello hello hello, you can't say that around here sonny, it's morally unhealthy."

Answer 7

There is one, but it isn't written. It has just developed ad hoc over the centuries. There is debate about whether a written one would be useful; it probably will not happen, as it would be difficult to achieve a consensus as to what should be in it.

Answer 8

because they have a monarchy to tell them the rules