The politics of the United Kingdom in the 19th century describes the of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shaped in the 19th century by constitutional conventions.
The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy. In this country, there is no conventionally understood written constitution to this day, in other words: a formal constitution, as is the case in other countries. Instead of one document, there are a number of norms called constitutional conventions, or the constitution in a material sense. The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty applies. The highest rank is held by statutes, which determine, among other things, the role of local government in society. In reality, the British government has freedom in shaping the structure and functioning of public administration bodies. The structure of local government was initiated by a series of statutes in the 19th century.
Political reforms
Sources of constitutional law The United Kingdom does not have a written constitution. In the 19th century, sources of constitutional law in the United Kingdom included:
Positive law, comprising fundamental legal acts such as Magna Carta (1215), the Triennial Act 1640, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679, the Bill of Rights 1689, and the Act of Settlement 1701; Case law, concerning judicial decisions and covering the most important issues of constitutional law; Constitutional conventions, also known as unwritten law norms, which emerged as a result of the actions of non-judicial institutions in matters of the state's organization; Legal works, treaties, and legal textbooks.
Legislative acts
The first law introducing significant political changes in the United Kingdom was the Reform Act 1832 passed on 4 June, which aimed to expand political power to new social classes and establish new electoral districts (the reforms of Charles Grey). It introduced democratic and elective municipal councils;; ; the second one, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, reorganized the administration of poor relief. Rural parishes transferred care for the poorest to the supervision of newly created workhouses, which alongside the police became the most important local government function at that time. Another law, the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, reformed municipal self-governance, stipulating that authority in individual regions should belong to elected councils. This act allowed only men who paid municipal taxes for the benefit of the poor to vote for the new authorities.
Between 1867 and 1885, the extension of voting rights for men was introduced, laying the groundwork for mass political democracy in the UK. Among other laws, the Ballot Act 1872, the Corrupt Practices Act 1883, and the Redistribution Act 1885 were issued. Until 1894, several significant laws were introduced aimed at democratizing elections to local councils. This allowed for membership by election rather than the purchase of mandates. The Local Government Act 1894 was passed, which divided counties into urban and rural districts. Subsequently, additional acts were enacted to streamline the functioning of local government bodies.
The United Kingdom evolved into a parliamentary monarchy with a parliamentary-cabinet system, often referred to as the mother of the parliamentary-cabinet system.
From Charles Grey's reforms to William Gladstone's
The electoral system existing since 1832 was undemocratic, even though the reform led to the participation and political activity of the middle class in the country. The House of Commons consisted of two deputies from each county, elected through high property census-based elections. The second group in the House of Commons was composed of representatives of towns. Before the reform, the House had 658 members, with 122 representing counties, 432 representing urban districts, and the remaining four representing universities: Oxford and Cambridge. In response to pressure from social groups and the labor movement in the 19th century, electoral reforms were undertaken, leading to the introduction of universal suffrage and the democratization of the House of Commons.
The reforms by Charles Grey in 1832 took representation away from small, rotten boroughs with up to 300,000 inhabitants and granted it to other larger towns. As a result, 56 electoral districts were abolished, leaving one mandate in 20 of them. The 143 obtained mandates were distributed among counties and towns.
The reform considered newly emerging industrial districts, which previously had no representation in Parliament. It provided for 65 mandates for them. The same number of seats was also given to rural districts, whose representatives were intended to counterbalance the bourgeoisie. Additionally, the property census was lowered in counties and towns. Since 1832, 20% of English households had gained voting rights. However, the property census still remained too high, excluding representatives of small craftsmen and merchants from voting. In rural areas, richer landowners gained voting rights after a slight reduction in the property census. Catholics gained voting rights in 1829, and Jews in 1858. Benjamin Disraeli's reform in 1867, who was a member of the third government of Edward Smith-Stanley, further lowered the property census (the number of voters increased to 2.5 million). As a result of Disraeli's reform, workers began to constitute over half of the electorate.
The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century led to a high development of mechanized industry and communication. The expansion of the colonial empire favored England's leading position in the global economy and politics. These differences brought about changes in the social structure: the number of the proletariat increased, and the significance of financial oligarchy grew, leading to further reforms that increased the number of voters.; In 1872, secret voting was introduced. William E. Gladstone's reform between 1884 and 1885 broke with the principle that the right to vote was a privilege of certain city corporations. Counties adopted the democratic principle that this right was the subjective right of citizens. Single-member districts were introduced, except for 27 cities with populations ranging from 50 to 165 thousand, which became two-member districts. The property census was significantly lowered, resulting in an increase in the number of voters to 40% of the total population.
Fight for workers' voting rights
The significance of landlords and gentry diminished, and in the House of Lords, representatives of big capital were increasingly numerous. The burghers and workers' groups demanded democratic reforms. The labor movement known as Chartism emerged, advocating for political demands in defense of electoral rights. The first petition in 1837 called for full democratization of elections to the House of Commons. It was rejected by the House in 1839, and many striking workers were arrested.
Chartists presented their program in the so-called Six Points of the People's Charter, the demands of which were implemented in 1867 and 1884 (granting electoral rights to social classes not included in the 1832 reform). In 1840, they founded the National Charter Association, headquartered in Manchester. This organization had a bylaw and defined authorities. Proposals for Feargus E. O'Connor's agrarian plan, the leader of the movement, were rejected, and the association itself was dissolved in 1842. After the decline of Chartism in the late 1840s, the labor movement took on a more economic character. Trade unions, legally operating since 1871, became its form.
In addition to the Chartist movement, other organizations operated: the Democratic Federation, the Fabian Society (1881), the dockers' union (1889), and the Independent Labour Party (1893). These were unions representing masses of unskilled workers, which formed the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in 1899. The main goal of the committee was to increase workers' representation in the British Parliament.
Parliament The Parliament in the United Kingdom (the legislative branch) consisted of three parts: the lower house of parliament called the House of Commons, the upper house called the House of Lords, and the monarch. The latter had the right to convene parliament for sessions, however, with the countersignature and upon the request of the Prime Minister. At the same time, the sovereign was the one who opened and closed sessions, as parliament worked in sessional mode. Parliamentary work lasted throughout the week, usually from the afternoon until late at night. Saturday and Sunday were mainly reserved for meetings with constituents, and mornings during the week (except Friday) were for committee work and group meetings. Parliament was sovereign and all-powerful. It exercised control over the executive branch and had the exclusive right to enact all taxes and charges. Parliament decided on the issuance of dispensations and suspensions.
Irish philosopher and politician Edmund Burke (18th century) expressed his views on the virtues and wonders of the English system in a metaphysical apostrophe:
Ruler
The ruler, monarch or otherwise, exercised their power based on hereditary principles. Their authority transformed into purely representational. Initially, all power belonged to the king, or to the king in parliament, or to the king in council. Judicial decisions made in the name of the king eventually shifted to parliament, the cabinet, and the judiciaries. The maxim governing the character of the nineteenth-century British regime was: The King can do no wrong and The King reigns, but does not govern. The monarch was also inviolable and irresponsible. He also served as the head of the Anglican Church and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He could decide on war and peace. Laws could be issued in his name, which he could sanction. They had the right to summon and dissolve parliament and present government plans.
All real power lay with parliament, the cabinet, and the judiciary. Cooperation between the king and the cabinet was facilitated through the prime minister. The Privy Council currently consists of 300 people. It included cabinet ministers and dignitaries. In the council, the king issued regulations, and ministers took parliamentary responsibility for them. Certain powers, known as royal prerogatives, remained with the monarch, but they were entirely representational and symbolic.
Another general principle was the requirement for the signature (countersignature) of the relevant ministers (from 1 to 4) for decisions made by the monarch. The ruler was well informed about political events and parliamentary proceedings, as he regularly received reports on the work of this body and held weekly audiences with the head of government.
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, consisted of hereditary and life peers (since 1876, non-hereditary law lords), and lords spiritual. In the 19th century, the right to sit in the House was held by 400 secular peers of England, lords spiritual (28 bishops and Anglican archbishops), 16 Scottish peers (since 1707), and 28 Irish peers (since 1801), including five representatives of the royal family, the Dukes of Wales, Edinburgh, Gloucester, York, and Kent. Members of the upper house of the British Parliament held titles of nobility. The power to grant titles belonged to the king, who could choose from dignities such as earl, duke, marquess, or baron.