Constitutional law worksheet with answers

The separation of powers divides state power between:

1. AThe central, regional and local tiers of government
2. BThe police, the army and the courts
3. CParliament, the monarch and the church
4. DThe legislature, the executive and the judiciary

The Sewel convention says that the UK Parliament will not normally:

1. ALegislate on Scottish matters without first holding a referendum in Scotland
2. BLegislate on devolved matters without the devolved legislature's consent
3. CDebate matters concerning Scotland
4. DChange taxes without a referendum

Section 3 of the UK Human Rights Act 1998 requires courts to:

1. AFollow every judgment of the Strasbourg court
2. BRead and give effect to legislation compatibly with Convention rights, so far as possible
3. CStrike down any provision of an Act that cannot be read compatibly with Convention rights
4. DAsk Parliament to interpret unclear statutes

The Dutch Constitution (Article 120) forbids courts from:

1. AReviewing Acts of Parliament for compatibility with the Constitution
2. BReviewing decisions of municipalities and provinces against national statutes
3. CHearing criminal cases
4. DApplying international treaties

Under ECHR case law such as Sunday Times v UK, for a restriction to be "prescribed by law", the law must be:

1. AAdequately accessible and foreseeable in its effects
2. BApproved by a referendum
3. COlder than the Convention
4. DContained in a single written statute passed by parliament

Under AG v De Keyser's Royal Hotel, when a statute covers the same ground as a prerogative power:

1. AThe prerogative overrides the statute
2. BThe government can choose freely between the two
3. CThe government may still choose the prerogative if it offers more flexible powers
4. DThe prerogative is put in abeyance and the government must act under the statute

A health authority moves a severely disabled woman into a care home after promising it would be her "home for life", then decides to close it. In R v North and East Devon HA, ex p Coughlan:

1. AThe promise was void because the authority had no statutory power to make it
2. BOnly a fair consultation was required
3. CThe promise could be broken whenever policy changed
4. DFrustrating her substantive legitimate expectation was an abuse of power

In YL v Birmingham City Council (2007), the House of Lords held that a private care home housing residents funded by a council:

1. AWas a core public authority
2. BWas not exercising a function of a public nature under the Human Rights Act
3. CCould not house publicly funded residents
4. DWas a hybrid public authority bound by the Act for all the care it provided