Notes to the text

Subordinate legislation (delegated legislation) – Orders in Council, orders, rules, regulations, schemes, warrants, byelaws and other instruments made or to be made under any Act of Parliament.

Civil service – The body of Crown servants that are employed to put government policies into action and are paid wholly out of money voted annually by Parliament. Civil servants include the administrative and executive staff of central government departments (e.g. the Home Office and Treasury) and the industrial staff of government dockyards and factories. Civil servants may serve in established or unestablished capacities, with effects on pension entitlement, etc. The police (not being Crown servants), the armed forces (not being civil), government ministers, and those (e.g. judges) whose salaries are charged on Consolidated Fund are not civil servants.

Ombudsman – Parliamentary Commissioner, an official who investigates complaints by the public against government departments or other big organizations. The word ombudsman comes from the Scandinavian Ombud, a commissioner. The -man/-men suffix is entirely English.

Statute book – The entire body of existing statutes.

Language practice and comprehension check

TASK I Explain the usage of the following passive verb-forms; translate the sentences:

1. From the 1870s until the 1970s the constitution was dominated by a communitarian ideology.

2. The powers of the House of Lords representing the old balanced constitution were diminished and executive discretionary power increased.

3. Governmental functions which had previously been exercised by local bodies were increasingly concentrated in central departments under the control of ministers answerable to Parliament.

4. The eighteenth-century statute book was dominated by laws protecting property policed by the courts.

5. Nineteenth century public health and safety legislation was followed, in the early twentieth century, by substantial housing and urban development legislation.

6. Immediately after the Second World War a wide-ranging welfare system was introduced.

7. The dominant economic belief was that the economy should be driven by the state.

8. Subordinate legislation and non-statutory rules were made by the executive on a large scale with limited parliamentary scrutiny.

9. Thousands of administrative tribunals staffed by government appointees were created to deal with the disputes generated by this expansion of state activity.

10. The traditional ideas of the rule of law as embodied in the common law and of accountability to Parliament were not seriously challenged even though the executive seemed to have outgrown both these constraints.

11. From the 1960s various “Ombudsmen” were set up to investigate complaints by citizen against government but without enforceable powers.

12. However since the 1960s the courts have strengthened their powers of control over the executive so much that worries have been expressed that they are interfering too much in politics.

TASK II Use the verbs in brackets in the correct form in the following passage about Civil Service:

1) British civil servants are servants of the Crown, which in practice (mean) the government. 2) Responsibility for the Civil Service (divide) between the Cabinet Office and the Treasury. The Prime Minister is Minister for the Civil Service.

3) Some civil servants (work) in government departments. 4) They (expect) to work with a government formed by any political party and to remain fair and impartial, whatever their personal opinions. 5) A change of government, or the appointment of a new minister in charge of a department, (not involve) a change of its civil servants. This is very useful to ministers who are new to an area of responsibility and have little time to learn about it. 6) The most senior civil servant in a department (call) the Permanent Secretary.

7) Ministers (not allow) to ask civil servants to do work that (intend) to promote a political party. 8) In the past ministers (rely) almost entirely on the advice of their civil servants when making decisions. 9) The power that senior civil servants had over politicians humorously (show) in the television series “Yes, Minister”. 10) More recently, party politics and pressure from Members of Parliament and commercial organizations may (have) greater influence on decision-making.

11) Most civil servants directly (not involve) in government. 12) In 1999 there (be) about 500 000 civil servants, a quarter of whom (employ) in the Ministry of Defence.

TASK III Fill in the following table to describe the main trends in the law-making policy in XVIII-XX centuries.

Century	Legislation passed

TASK IV Paraphrase the following sentences from the text:

1. Impelled by the demands of a larger electorate, the executive branch of government began to increase in size and range of powers.

2. The constitution made only marginal responses to these fundamental changes.

3. The Franks Committee (1958) recommended marginal reforms which buttressed the powers of the courts and supplemented parliamentary scrutiny of the executive.

4. Recognising the inevitability of executive discretion and reluctant to appear to be challenging the majority, the courts began to defer to political decisions.

5. In the inter-war period, opposite fears were expressed, some believing that the executive had taken over, others worried that an individualistically minded judiciary would frustrate popular programmes.

TASK V Express your opinion about the following QUOTATION:

For forms of government let fools contest;

Whate’er is best administer’d is best. (Alexander Pope, Essay on Man)