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5. The legislative branch has more powers then the others. 
6. The powers of the three branches don't overlap. 
7. The system of checks and balances was meant to protect against the extremes. 
8. The responsibilities of the Congress are to protect the rights of citizens and enforce laws. 
9. The executive branch consists of the President, the Vice President, the Cabinet and the 13 
Departments, and also the independent agencies. 
10. The judicial branch explains and interprets laws and makes decisions in lawsuits. 
 
TEXT 2 
 
The British Constitution 
 
3. Прочитайте текст и ответьте на вопросы. 
 
1. What makes the UK Constitution different from other constitutions? 
2. What are the sources of the UK Constitution? 
3. What is the core principle of the UK Constitution? 
4. What bodies represent the three branches of power (executive, legislative and judiciary)? 
 
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 identified as Britain's constitution. The British Constitution can be found in a 
variety of documents. The main ones are: Statutes (the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Act of Settlement 
of 1701), Acts of Parliament; customs and traditions, political conventions, case law; constitutional 
matters decided in a court of law. 
Since the English Civil War, the core principle of the British constitution has traditionally been 
the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, according to which the statutes passed by Parliament are the 
UK's supreme and final source of law. It follows that Parliament can change the constitution simply by 
passing new Acts of Parliament to be followed by the Royal Assent. There is some debate about 
whether this principle remains entirely valid today, in part due to the UK’s European Union 
membership.
According to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament may pass any legislation 
that it wishes. There are many Acts of Parliament which themselves have constitutional significance. 
For example, Parliament has the power to determine the length of its own term. However, the 
Sovereign retains the power to dissolve Parliament at any time on the advice of the Prime Minister. 
Parliament also has the power to change the structure of its constituent Houses and the relation 
between them. 
Parliament consists of the Sovereign, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. All the 
legislation must receive the approval of the Sovereign (the Royal Assent). Following the accession of 
the UK to European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1972, the UK became bound 
by European law and more importantly, the principle of the supremacy of European Union law. 
The House of Commons alone possesses the power to pass a motion of no-confidence in the 
Government, which requires the Government either to resign or seek fresh elections. Such a motion 
does not require passage by the Lords, or the Royal Assent. Parliament traditionally also has the power 
to remove individual members of the government by impeachment. By the Constitutional Reform 
Act2005 it has the power to remove individual judges from office for misconduct. 
The executive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign through Her 
Majesty's Government. The monarch appoints the Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's 
Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make 
up the Government. As in some other parliamentary systems of government, the executive is 
accountable to Parliament. 

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The Courts of the United Kingdom are divided into three separate jurisdictions serving England 
and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, since the United Kingdom does not have a single unified 
judicial system. 
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 created a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to 
take over the judicial functions of the House of Lords and devolution cases from the Judicial 
Committee of the Privy Council. The Supreme Court began its work in 2009, and serves as the highest 
court of appeal in England, Wales and in Northern Ireland, and for civil cases in Scotland. The High 
Court of Justiciary remains the court of last resort in Scotland for criminal cases. 

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