mmon law and practice

Legal system:

based on common law tradition with early Roman and modern
continental influences; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of
Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998; accepts compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); Heir
Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)
head of government: Prime Minister James Gordon BROWN (since 27 June
2007)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative
elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the
majority coalition is usually the prime minister

Legislative branch:

bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords (618 seats;
consisting of approximately 500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, and
26 clergy) and House of Commons (646 seats since 2005 elections;
members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms unless
the House is dissolved earlier)
elections: House of Lords - no elections (note - in 1999, as
provided by the House of Lords Act, elections were held in the House
of Lords to determine the 92 hereditary peers who would remain
there; elections are held only as vacancies in the hereditary
peerage arise); House of Commons - last held 5 May 2005 (next to be
held by May 2010)
election results: House of Commons - percent of vote by party -
Labor 35.2%, Conservative 32.3%, Liberal Democrats 22%, other 10.5%;
seats by party - Labor 355, Conservative 198, Liberal Democrat 62,
other 31; seats by party in the House of Commons as of 4 June 2008 -
Labor 351, Conservative 192, Liberal Democrat 63, Scottish National
Party/Plaid Cymru 9, Democratic Unionist 9, Sinn Fein 5, other 17
note: in 1998 elections were held for a Northern Ireland Assembly
(because of unresolved disputes among existing parties, the transfer
of power from London to Northern Ireland came only at the end of
1999 and has been suspended four times, the latest occurring in
October 2002 and lasting until 8 May 2007); in 1999, the UK held the
first elections for a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, the
most recent of which were held in May 2007

Judicial branch:

House of Lords (highest court of appeal; several Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life); Supreme Courts of
England, Wa