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Workshop 4.7 - The Monarch - Coggle Diagram
Workshop 4.7 - The Monarch
The constitutional role of the monarch
Constitutional monarchy - Authority derives from and is limted by the constitution and the law.
Absolute monarchy - Supreme authority is unrestricted by laws or customs.
The monarch's current role
The monarch has limited personal powers over the conduct of government.
Activities of the government are still carried out in the name of the monarch
This is why the government is often still referred to as the Crown. The UK's Executive is formally referred to as His Majesty's Government.
The monarch remaining personal powers:
Appointing the PM.
Giving royal assent to Acts of Parliament.
Dissolving Parliament in some circumstances.
The Crown
Criminal prosecutions are started by the CPS, but are nominally in service of the Crown
Judicial review proceedings are brought in the name of the Crown. This reflects the fact that in a JR, the court is dealing with a public law matter.
The royal prerogative
The royal prerogative refers to the powers that were historically vested in the monarch since the days of absolutist monarchy. They aren't statutory powers so have never been created or approved by Parliament.
Prerogative powers still form part of the legal authority of the executive.
Today, prerogative powers are only exercised on the advice of the PM or other senior government ministers.
Summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament.
Appointing and dismissing government ministers.
Mobilising the armed forces, including the declaration of war.
Negotiating treaties.
Miller v the Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41
Miller brought a legal challenge to the advice given to the Queen by the then PM, Boris Johnson, to prorogue Parliament.
On the PM's advice, the Queen prorogued Parliament for 5 weeks.
The Supreme Court decided that the PM's advice was unlawful because it had the effect of "frustrating or preventing, without reasonable justification, the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions".
This judgment illustrates the convention that the monarch acts only on the PM's advice and that the exercise of prerogative powers by the executive is not immune form challenge in the courts.