OK, what the hell has happened to the Brits?

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 at 18:44:35 in message
. net, Tony Cox
wrote:

Actually, the major difference is that Britain doesn't have
any written constitution at all. Parliament can do anything it
damn well pleases (except make it decisions binding on
future parliaments).

Only in more and more restricted areas. The signing up to several
European treaties since the 1970s has affected many aspects of British
life, and unless something dramatic happens these areas will continue to
shrink. Signing up to Laws on Human rights has led to all sorts of
changes.

There are still a few parts of the law not too badly affected by
European laws but they are slowly being whittled away.


--
David CL Francis

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message ...


Dennis O'Connor wrote:

A major difference is
that the Bill Of Rights of our Constitution specifically prohibits the
government from banning our firearms...


A major difference is the Bill of Rights, period. None of those rights existed
under British law at the time, and some still do not.


Sorry George, that's just not true. While some of the Bill of Rights were specifically
to make sure that some issues that the ex-colonials had with the British were not repeated
in the new government, some of it was just codification of principles long established
in British law. Even the notion and term "Bill of Rights" is right out of British Law.

The British 1689 Bill of Rights included freedom to bear arms for self-defense (US 2nd Amd.),
freedom to petition the government (US 1st Amd.), freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
(US 8th Amd.), freedom from fines and forfeitures without trial (US 5th and 7th amds.)
Much of the fifth and sixth amendment are specifically a US declaration of principles of British
common law dating back to the Magna Carta.

-Ron