Constitutional law worksheet with answers

The UK convention of collective ministerial responsibility means that:

1. AMinisters must publicly support government decisions or resign
2. BEach minister can veto Cabinet decisions
3. CAll ministers are jointly liable in court for government decisions
4. DMinisters are elected together as a group

Members of the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) are mainly elected by:

1. AMembers of the House of Representatives
2. BDirect vote of all citizens
3. CMembers of the provincial councils
4. DAppointment by the King

A unitary state is one in which:

1. ASovereign power is held at the centre, which may delegate powers to other levels
2. BRegions have powers guaranteed by the constitution, which the centre cannot alter alone
3. CThere is only one political party
4. DThe head of state is also head of government

In the Factortame litigation, while the UK was an EU member, the House of Lords:

1. ADeclared the European Communities Act 1972 invalid
2. BHeld that EU law could never limit Acts of Parliament
3. CDisapplied parts of an Act of Parliament that conflicted with EU law
4. DReferred the matter to the European Court of Human Rights

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 ACannot be impliedly repealed, only expressly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 BCannot be repealed at all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. CPrevail automatically over all later Acts of Parliament
4. DMust be approved by referendum

In Pickin v British Railways Board, the House of Lords held that courts:

1. AMust investigate any allegation of fraud in Parliament
2. BWill not examine whether Parliament followed its internal procedures in passing an Act
3. CCan strike down a private Act if it is shown that Parliament was misled during its passage
4. DCan review Acts for compliance with private bill rules

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

Officers enter a writer's house and seize his papers under a warrant issued by a Secretary of State with no legal authority to issue it. In Entick v Carrington, the court held:

1. AThe search was lawful, because the warrant was signed
2. BThe search was unlawful, because state action needs legal authority
3. CThe search was lawful, because state necessity justified seizing the papers
4. DThe writer could only complain to Parliament