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Includes bibliographical references and index.

The purpose and characteristics of constitutions -- The domestic sources of the UK Constitution -- The UK Constitution and international legal orders -- Brexit and the UK Constitution -- Law, politics and the nature of the United Kingdom Constitution -- Parliamentary sovereignty -- The rule of law -- Separation of powers -- Principles of political and parliamentary accountability -- The executive -- Parliament (I): the House of Commons -- Parliament (II): the House of Lords -- The United Kingdom Supreme Court and the office of Lord Chancellor : towards an independent judicial branch? -- The United Kingdom's devolution arrangements -- Devolution and the UK Constitution -- Parliamentary scrutiny of government -- The parliamentary ombudsman -- Freedom of information -- Judicial review of administrative action - theory, procedure and remedies -- Judicial review of administrative action - grounds for review -- The European Convention on Human Rights -- The Human Rights Act 1998 -- Political freedoms and democratic participation.

"The central purpose of a constitution is to allocate and regulate governmental power within a state. A constitution establishes the key institutions of government; it grants power to them, distributes power between them, and governs the ways in which the institutions of government interact with each other. A constitution also controls the way in which those institutions might exercise their powers, and determines how those powers might be exercised in relation to the individuals who reside within that state. Constitutions are therefore, as the quote which opens this chapter suggests, a distinctive species of legal norms (rules) concerned with the government and governance of the state within which they apply"-- Provided by publisher.