Constitutional law worksheet with answers

Judicial review allows courts to:

1. ACheck whether public bodies act lawfully
2. BDecide elections
3. CAppoint government ministers
4. DRewrite any legislation they consider unwise

The separation of powers divides state power between:

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

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

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

In Thoburn v Sunderland City Council (the "metric martyrs" case), Laws LJ said that "constitutional statutes":

1. ACannot be impliedly repealed, only expressly
2. BCannot be repealed at all
3. CMust be approved by referendum
4. DPrevail automatically over all later Acts of Parliament

A minister refuses to refer a complaint to a committee because the result might embarrass the government. In Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, the House of Lords held:

1. AThe minister had unlimited discretion
2. BThe refusal was lawful, since the Act imposed no duty to give reasons
3. COnly Parliament could question the minister
4. DThe refusal was unlawful, as it frustrated the purpose of the Act

A bicameral legislature has:

1. AThree chambers
2. BNo elected members
3. COne chamber
4. DTwo chambers

Under Osman v UK, a state breaches its positive obligation under Article 2 to protect a person from a third party if the authorities:

1. AKnew or ought to have known of a real and immediate risk to life, and failed to take reasonable measures
2. BFailed to convict the person who later killed the victim
3. CDid not provide round-the-clock police protection for every person who had reported any threat against them
4. DFailed to prevent any crime in their area

The government tried to stop publication of a former Cabinet minister's diaries. In AG v Jonathan Cape (the Crossman diaries case), the court held that:

1. AMinisters' diaries are always Crown property
2. BCabinet discussions could be protected as confidential, but the material was now too old to restrain
3. CCourts can never restrain publication of political material
4. DThe convention of Cabinet secrecy is directly enforceable law, so publication of the diaries had to be restrained