How the British bourgeois political system was gradually established

First of all, Britain has a long history of constitutional development, and the process of its development has been relatively smooth, showing a distinctive feature of political continuity. The predecessor of the British Parliament was the "Great Council" which originated in the 13th century and was established by the Magna Carta in 1215. The dominant spirit of the Magna Carta was to safeguard the privileges of the nobility, to protect the interests of the knights and citizens, and to place the power of the king under the constraints of feudal customary law, which gave rise to the concept of the supremacy of the law over sovereignty. 14th century onwards, the Parliament was gradually divided into the House of Lords, which was attended by the monks and laymen of the great aristocracy, and the House of Commons, which was attended by the lower nobility and the citizens. Thereafter, the power of the lower house expanded, and by the end of the 15th century, the lower house already had the power to propose financial bills and legal bills. Although the Parliament of this period was still a feudal and hierarchical representative body, all facts show that England had long formed a democratic tradition of limiting the power of the king and focusing on parliamentary politics, and evolved from aristocratic democracy to bourgeois democracy. Before and after the British bourgeois revolution, parliament became the political center of the bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy's struggle with the Stuart dynasty, which represented the feudal power.

Secondly, the establishment of the British constitutional monarchy was the inevitable result of the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy and the feudal monarchy. As the bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy engaged in capitalist business grew stronger economically, they were no longer willing to put up with the tyrannical monarchy's exorbitant levies and restrictions on them. They became increasingly dissatisfied with the autocratic rule of the monarchy and demanded that the power of the king be restricted and their political rights be expanded.

Once again, the success of the bourgeois revolution in England was the political prerequisite for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, and the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 overthrew the monarchy by peaceful means and established a joint dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy. After the revolution, Mary and William, the daughter and son-in-law of James II, inherited the British throne and ruled Britain together. However, they ascended the throne on the terms of Parliament and promised to obey its laws. The new king was made by Parliament, and without Parliament the new king would not have ascended the throne. Thus, the relationship between Parliament and the King was completely reversed; it was no longer Parliament that was subservient to the King, but the King was subordinate to Parliament. The establishment of a constitutional monarchy was the greatest achievement of the British bourgeois revolution and its greatest achievement in the modern experiment of democratic political creation.

(2) The process of formation

After the "Glorious Revolution", the British bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy made use of the Parliament they controlled to restrict the power of the king through a series of bills, and gradually transferred the actual power to the hands of Parliament, gradually forming a system in which the power of the Parliament exceeded that of the king, and the king was "united but not ruled". The constitutional monarchy of "unity but not rule" was gradually formed.

In 1689, Parliament passed the Bill of Rights, marking the initial establishment of the British constitutional monarchy. The Bill of Rights clearly set some limits on the king's rights in the areas of legislation, taxation, and the army, so that the king's power was restrained; at the same time, it also fixed the freedom of the parliament and the rights of the parliament in legal documents.

In 1689, Britain also formulated the 〈〈rebellion bill〉, which stipulated that the king must be agreed to by the parliament in order to collect and maintain the army, and the army could only be maintained for one year. In order to prevent the king to exclude the parliament and arbitrary, to ensure that the parliament can be convened regularly, the parliament in 1694 formulated a & lt; & lt; three years bill & gt; & gt;, the provisions of every three years must be convened once the parliament, the term of each session of the parliament shall not exceed three years. The British Parliament in 1701 and passed the Succession to the Throne Act, the succession to the throne made strict restrictive arrangements. It also stipulated that the throne of the King of England could not be passed on to a Catholic, and that the King of England must join the Church of England; at the same time, it also placed clear restrictions on some of the King's other rights.

The above series of bills, are on the king's right to restrict, at the same time the succession to the throne and other major issues in the hands of Parliament, thus establishing the restriction of the king's right and the supremacy of parliamentary power principle, the British constitutional monarchy was established.