POL316Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Parliamentary Sovereignty, Unanimous Consent, Constitutionalism
Document Summary
The state of nature, wrote hobbes, was a state of chaos in which no individual could feel secure in the possession of his property of life. It is analyzed under three main functional headings: the legislatures (making the law, the executive (implementing the law, the judiciary (interpreting the law) Constitutional rules take three forms: written documents (constitutional law, decisions of the courts (common law, unwritten conventions, practices that emerge over time and are generally accepted as binding rules of the political system. Power: the existence of separate branches of government under the constitution, divides state power between different groups of public officials, but constitutional law and conventions affect both the extent and distribution of state power. English-speakers / recognizes the special status of particular religious denominations / empowers the members of these religious groups to varying degrees by giving them state-protected rights. Community and identity: trudeau argued that a constitution establishes a community.
