Description
A single volume on constitutional law, descriptive of organs of government, can do little to reconcile the tasks of government with the liberty of the subject. It has, however, been the aim of the authors not merely to give as comprehensive account of the machinery of government of the United Kingdom as is permitted by the limits of space, but also to include something of the historical background of the constitution and some criticism of its present working. Part II on liberty of the subject concentrates on the political aspect of liberty and the part played by the common law in safeguarding the citizen.
That there is an other aspect of liberty-economic- a truism and it is here that the clash between private interests and public interest is strongest. Historically the common law has played but a secondary part in protecting this liberty, but the advent of the Welfare State suggests that at all events one aspect of economic liberty is now protected by the law. The concluding chapters on administrative law are designed to show the role of the courts as a constitutional safeguard against the operation of a democratic, no less than an autocratic, government.
But there are two aspects of the working of the Constitution which it is difficult to bring out in a text-book, namely the relationship between Ministers and higher civil servants and the conservatism of the judges in their approach to public law.
ISBN:WADEANDPHILIP
