The case for a written constitution as a process of reaffirmation of the monarchy and clarification as to the status of Christianity within the state and its structures.




a) The structure of the states four nations and their churches

i) England and Anglo Wales / Cymru

My reading of John Davies in Hanes Cymru (English translation) is that it argues succinctly for a reunified Wales territory on the basis of a bilingual Wales and democracy to prevent tribal and sectarian rule, using successor legislation to the English and Welsh state of 1536-1999 and using common law until codified from the federal Westminster legislature into a separate legal profession for all Wales under the Assembly, agreed through a UK convention and royal commission as that is how the assembly detail before and after the referendum that established it was set up.



This UK legislature is at present the state successor to the ‘English’ Parliament of church and crown that sought Queen Anne to sign the Act of Union with Scotland and the Act of succession, passed again in the Commons at present at the end of one monarchs reign and upon the birth of a new member under the act of Succession.

There is also a clause on impeachment that’s never been used successfully since Charles 1st as Edward Viii when advised by PM Baldwin abdicated (quit). It could be triggered by a Chapter 7 resolution from the UN which is another reason for peaceful resolution and a constitutional convention in order to preserve the state and incumbent in her Diamond Jubilee Year and beyond for the reign of the Duke of Cambridge. As such this is agreed now at Commonwealth level.



The real question is therefore how to impeach or remove someone from the line of succession for interfering in the process or high crimes and misdemeanours. Is that allowed under EU law and as such needs up dating and resolution so that a repeat of the past two decades where Clarence House has intervened in process is at least minimised and codified as an example for future holders, peers of the realm and those from citizen to senator who have an interest in constitutional reform and public policy can participate in the workings of the parliaments through evidence of select cttes and amendment stage



Hence the reigning monarch has sought to avoid party politics and remain a head of state as there is a convention to protect the monarchs position that once a bill has passed both houses of Parliament (Commons and Lords) in order if deemed constitutional as opposed to policy where it could be passed in either order)



This is based on the 1215 Magna Carta, acts of union and succession

ii) Ireland

Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke took up Henry IIs papal invitation to sort out the Irish feuding for the title of High King. This created feudal territory under both Irish and English jurisdiction in Ireland (the Pale) which was repeated by Elizabeth 1st and James Vith / 1st with plantations in Ulster in later reigns as well. This was allowed under Irish court of sessions and parliament from 1540 and the reform of the UK legal system of the 19th century varying common law. This is now a matter for the Irish Republic in the 26 counties for state matters to be accountable to the head of state and British Irish council as the Irish Anglican church ‘of all Ireland’ is disestablished and the minority church and the Northern Irish Assembly is an institution that cross community and devised for fairness, can not change the head of state in England and the rest of the UK, only secede by referendum through a mandate in the Assembly elections and referendum, similar to Scotland’s situation, under ultra vires legislation and precedence of decolonisation as I Understand it.



iii) Wales and Tudor England 1485-1603 (specifically the Acts of Union) How the church was fused with the state procedurally rather than just Edward 1sts De jure.

In layman’s terms Henry Tudor Senior, Duke of Richmond, King VII of England and Lord of Ireland got crowned monarch on England’s greatest ever home loss and Wales win, the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field. He used his reign to bring about fiscal regeneration through a smaller state, better infrastructure. This was combined with respect for the church institutions with some state taxation of them as at the time they were all (lollards excepted) Roman Catholics with Convents and monasteries.



His son Henry Tudor Junior VIII of England sought to fund wars overseas and a reformed and catholic church under his tutelage as governor by closing the monasteries. He also integrated Wales into similar institutions of state and administration (County governance and the Ludlow, Palatine and Oxford Sessions of courts). As such the fearful conventions and ability of lords and subjects to go to war within the state were curtailed within due process and peer led review of common and case law as this too began to be codifed in case reports. This has since been made jurisdiction wide with the UK getting separate legal professions from the Court and Parliament set up in the Strand and now with a Supreme court.



iv) Scotland union therewith, emancipation and ‘home rule’ conventions and conflict

After the reigns of two of her siblings, Henry Juniors daughter Queen Elizabeth 1st reaffirmed the CofE and brought in an English version of the Prayer Book (BCP, now Book Common Worship as well since the 1980s, itself derived from the English version of the Vatican II translation from the Latin original).



As part of the succession negotiations, her cousins child James VI of Scotland prepared to succeed her which he did in 1603.





v) Catholic emancipation

After the civil war and restoration, officially in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland it was illegal for Roman Catholics to hold offices and own property. With the union of parliaments in 1801 between Britain and Ireland and the Anglican churchs proposals for disestablishment there, in 1829 the whole of the UK and Empire was so emancipated with Roman Catholics having the same rights as citizens as everyone else and the other churches that had evolved within the British Empire and the recently created USA (Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, Free etc)





vi) ‘Home isles’ crown dependant territories

i. Jersey

ii. Guernsey

iii. Alderney

iv. Sark

These four are mainly Catholic CofE with other churches from the UK settling in their ‘capitals’ such as St Helier

v. Man

The old adage that their and Lincolns rotation between the provinces of York and Canterbury prior to the modern General synod being established indicates how minority languages are established in the state historically.

vi. Scilly

These islands and others such as Bardsey were once used as tax havens until harmonisation of statute and regulation within the mainland UK.



vii) Other post imperial territories, C of E outposts prior to the Anglican Communion accepting global structures.

i. Gibraltar UK got that off the Spanish in alliance with French then used it to defeat Napoleon and Hitler and aid those opposed to Franco and the transition back to democracy.

ii. Malta and Cyprus bases,

Successor territories to crusader kingdoms the UK got awarded after the Napoleonic Wars and became their military power. As such in many parts of the world Christianity became a demilitarised, non conquering faith by the end of world war one.



iii. Falklands

Conquered off the French and Spanish in turn and then defended from the ex Spanish colony of Argentina. The Church of England there is part of the whole church of Latin America.



iv. Antarctic

Territory divided up under international auspices and primarily used for scientific research. UK claim based on holding the Falklands and South Georgia, with other territory ceded to Australia and New Zealand upon the 1931 Statute of Westminster.



viii) The disestablishment in Wales and establishment of the Cof E Church Synod.

Following on from the Irish example, in Wales where there was after the 1918 conflict a non conformist majority who had borne a lot of the Victorian and World War one fighting, the Welsh Coalition prime minister David Lloyd George got Royal assent for the devolution of matters ecclesiastical within England to a General Synod of the Church of England as part of said churches disestablishment in Wales.



ix) Post Westminster statute 1931 and Royal succession acts 2010-11, what laws apply when and where within the Union,

In one sentence:

As an unqualified former law student at a welsh uni please ask the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as part of a written constitutional convention for the whole UK so that everybody understands.



How do other faiths fit in with reference to human rights and interfaith groups?

1) Judaism

After Edward I expelled the Jews as he couldn’t guarantee their safety after pogroms in Northern England and the rest of Europe so they relocated in Germany, Oliver Cromwell let them back in again during the protectorate as part of publishing and financial sectors expertise. He recognised in law their rights to live in society as some were here already working for other governments as interpreters and had translated the Bible ‘from the original tongues’. After the restoration this was also recognised through the court of St James.



They have recognised standing in state and civil law regarding family law. Their courts are called Beth Din and set the dietary and interpretation of Jewish scriptures. S such they were one of the first groups to create parallel legislature, even predating the modern CofE General Synod. As stated above, this was integrated and codified in part in the 1920s.





2) Other Christian Churches

a. Roman Catholics

The Roman Catholic church has been allowed as a private confession since the reign of Elizabeth 1st. James 1st sought partial reconciliation as did his son Charles through modified translations of the English bible. When these failed there were the declarations and articles of religion in the Book of Common Prayer in the former and civil war in the latters reign.



After the restoration of the monarchy restrictions on when and where mass could be said were made to diplomatic embassies (such as France, Spain, the Italian states and Austria) and private aristocratic estates that had survived the reformation or bought monastic lands to preserve the character of their area as ‘c’atholic.



These were reduced by the Catholic act of emancipation 1829 such that monastic houses such as Buckfast began to be developed and the Pield Heath Convent in Hillingdon. Monks and nuns from overseas in Roman Catholic Churches ministered the sacraments and education similar to the pre national school provision by the Church of England and English aristocratic families for those slightly better off.



b. Church of Scotland

In Scotland the attempt for a United Kingdom church failed as the established church was more Protestant than in England and Had indited James VI (1st of England) mother, Mary Queen of Scots for treason for Being Roman Catholic and bringing foreign troops onto scottish soil.



This trial of Mary Queen of Scots led to her execution by Elizabeth 1st when in exile under the law of scone which saw the crown of Edward 1st as the preeminant one in the British Isles. This ‘internal imperialist’ precedent resolved by the Union of crowns, then the act of Union of 1801, as amended by the Irish free state act and statute of Westminster which vests the crown into the authority of the Imperial leglislature until the Commonwealth realms act devolving the choice of head of state.

Examples of this include the Westminster statute, the Canada act 1981, and the enabling leglislation for the unsuccessful Australian republic referendum act in the 1990s under the premiership of Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating. The 2010 change in the Act Of succession enables through a consultation of all the Commonwealth Realms.



Thus in Scotland as protected by its act of Unions in 1701/7 a tripartite established church existed with some recognition for Roman Catholics until the clearances after the Jacobite rebellions. The Catholic Emancipation act of all the Empire of 1829 was meant to reduce resentments for those left behind there; as opposed to those that went to Novo Scotia, Canada and the United States as well.





c. Methodists

After theological differences backed up by song the simple worship of the Wesley Brothers led to the formation in England of a church ‘of the faith’ that was more Calvinist. Methodists as they came to be called, came to be involved in the administration of state as citizens and magistrates. They were also involved in the care of orphans such as the foundlings through public subscription and raising issues in Parliament. They led the campaign for the abolition of slavery and were involved with both sides of the Chartist dispute at Peterloo. Nowadays their care home provision is fully regulated by Parliament through the NCH charity, similar to The Childrens Society of the Church of England.



Their main place of worship is Methodist Central Hall which also runs outreach to the community through the circuits of churches across England, Scotland and Wales as the Methodist church of Britain and the Irish Methodist Church. They run revision conferences and debates about the meaning of public life.



d. Baptists

Stemming from the Anabaptists who believed in adult baptism of believers from the time of the Tudors, the modern day main church is the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Irish Baptist church. They worked with the Methodists in the production of the Good News and New International translations of the Bible since the end of the Second world war, using a mixture of previous translations of the bible and newly discovered Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls found in the territory of Israel / Palestine (Qmran and Dead Sea Scrolls to give them their colloquial titles in English). These bibles are used in some Anglican churches.



e. Quakers / Unitarians

The Quakers are founded on non ritual based worship since the 1600s and were part of the Plymouth Brethren that founded the United States. In West London and the Home counties they have worked with offenders and in prisons and with prisoner families.



The Unitarians differ by being about reading and learning like Quakers but on public talks and non sectarianism. They have a presence in the University of London next to the High Church Forward in Faith Church of Christ The King and the English Chapel.



Both Quakers and Unitarians hold civil partnership ceremonies and agree with a multitude of family setups.



f. United Reformed / Free/ Congregational

The Free and Congregational Churches are founded by those who separated from the Anabaptists. They fought for the creation of republic and empire and freedom of conscience under Parliament. After the partition of Ireland and the slaughter of the Somme, some in England and Wales sought to merge into the United Reformed Church ( in places working with or sharing buildings with the Methodists). They work with those who develop early and in overseas mission. They regard themselves as being part of Canterbury’s See and liase with Roman Catholics through the churches together movement to reduce sectarianism and campaign Against poverty and in favour of social justice.



3) Commonwealth faiths: Hinduism, Sikhism, Muslims

The faiths of the Indian Subcontinent and SE Asia have made an inroad into the United Kingdom as part of settling of World War Two army officers and their families after World War II. These people settle and live family lives generally in line with those already here.



Muslims divide into sunni and shia but also have a sect that developed here in the nineteenth century, the Ahmaddiya . All don’t like some of the more extreme punishments of other jurisdictions shariah and don’t like female circumcision.



4) Other faiths of other countries: Buddhism and Jainism
Faiths that have tolerated drug usage in the past until it was brought to their shores en mass by the western imperial powers. Have settled in the European Union since the second world war.
5) Those similarly constituted to the above and notable minorities

6) Interfaith groups

a. Churches Together

b. Interfaith forum

c. Council of Christians and Jews

Formed in 1942 to combat anti-Semitism and in response to the holocaust.

Is there now a need for a devolved English Parliament and reform of the general synod?



Yes the days when the church can use its position as parallel legislature under modern EU law are getting difficult. In the majority nation, sadly it is now a minority church on a day to day basis and as such has to participate in the drawing up of an English Parliament within a federal United Kingdom and Commonwealth and informed discussion of how churches together and interfaith groups are constituted.



7) How should the English parliament and its structures be brought about?



Is there now a need for a devolved English Parliament and reform of the general synod?



Yes the days when the church can use its position as parallel legislature under modern EU law are getting difficult. In the majority nation, sadly it is now a minority church on a day to day basis and as such has to participate in the drawing up of an English Parliament within a federal United Kingdom and Commonwealth.