KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Major World Governments)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2018 Dec Examination
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B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Political Science (Major World Governments) 2018 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2018 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2018 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2018 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1What are the important conventions (traditions) related to the Legislature and Executive in the Constitution of the UK.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what a convention is and why Britain needs so many; the conventions about Parliament (yearly sittings, Royal Assent, the primacy of the Commons and the Salisbury-Addison convention, the neutral Speaker, the Opposition, treaties, the use of force, devolved matters); the conventions about the executive (action on ministerial advice, the choice of Prime Minister, ministers in Parliament, the Cabinet, collective and individual responsibility, confidence, dissolution, the caretaker period, a neutral Civil Service); why they are obeyed and how courts treat them; a conclusion.
Introduction: rules that no court enforces
Britain has no single written constitution. Its rules come from statutes, court decisions and conventions. A convention is a rule of political practice that those in power treat as binding, although no court will order anyone to obey it. Breaking one brings a political price, not a legal penalty.
Conventions matter most for Parliament and the executive. In law the Crown still holds wide powers. In practice those powers are used by ministers who answer to the House of Commons. The Cabinet Manual (2011), the Government's own guide, describes the result as "an Executive drawn from and accountable to Parliament". The conventions below explain how this works.
A. Conventions related to Parliament
1. Parliament meets every year. The Meeting of Parliament Act 1694 requires a Parliament to be held only once in three years. In practice Parliament sits every year. No Government could last long without it, since taxes and spending need regular parliamentary approval. The yearly session is therefore a firm convention backed by financial necessity.
2. Royal Assent is always given. A bill becomes an Act only when the Sovereign gives the Royal Assent. In law the Sovereign may refuse. By convention the Sovereign never does. The last refusal came on 11 March 1708, when Queen Anne, on her ministers' advice, refused assent to the Scottish Militia Bill. Since then every bill passed by Parliament has received assent.
3. The Commons is the senior House. The Cabinet Manual (para 5.2) says the two Houses "acknowledge various conventions governing the relationship between them". These include the "primacy of the House of Commons", its financial privilege and the "Salisbury-Addison convention".
- Financial privilege. Taxation and spending are matters for the elected House. The Lords do not challenge the Commons on money. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 later turned much of this practice into law.
- The Salisbury-Addison convention. It dates from 1945, when a Labour Government faced a large Conservative majority in the Lords. Under it the Lords do not wreck, at second or third reading, a Government bill promised in the election manifesto.
4. The Speaker is neutral. The Speaker of the House of Commons is elected from among its members. By convention a new Speaker cuts all ties with his or her party. The Speaker does not take part in debates and votes only to break a tie. At a general election the Speaker stands as "the Speaker seeking re-election". The main parties usually do not put up candidates against the Speaker, though this was not respected in 1987.
5. An organised Opposition. The second largest party in the Commons forms His Majesty's Opposition. Its leader appoints a "shadow Cabinet" that watches each department and offers voters a ready alternative government. The practice began as convention. The law later recognised it: the Ministers of the Crown Act 1937 first paid a salary to the Leader of the Opposition.
6. Parliament's say over treaties and war.
- Treaties. From 1924 the Ponsonby Rule required treaties needing ratification to be laid before Parliament for twenty-one sitting days. Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 put this rule into statute.
- Use of force. In 2011 the Government acknowledged "that a convention had developed in Parliament that before troops were committed the House of Commons should have an opportunity to debate the matter" (Cabinet Manual, para 5.38). Emergencies are excepted. The convention had real force on 29 August 2013. The Commons rejected the Government's motion on Syria by 285 votes to 272, and the Prime Minister accepted that Britain would not take military action.
7. Devolved matters. Under the Sewel convention, Westminster will not normally legislate on devolved matters without the consent of the devolved legislature. It has been written into section 28(8) of the Scotland Act 1998. Yet in R (Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, [2017] UKSC 5, the Supreme Court held that it remains a political rule which judges will not police.
B. Conventions related to the Executive
1. The Sovereign acts on advice. In law the Crown appoints ministers, makes treaties, commands the armed forces and grants honours. The Cabinet Manual explains that "by constitutional convention, the majority of these powers are exercised by, or on the advice of, his or her responsible ministers". Only "a few exceptional instances", the reserve powers, remain. The Sovereign also stays out of party politics. He is "entitled to be informed and consulted, and to advise, encourage and warn ministers".
2. The choice of Prime Minister. The Sovereign must appoint as Prime Minister the person who can command the confidence of the House of Commons. Usually this is the leader of the majority party. "By modern convention, the Prime Minister always sits in the House of Commons" (Cabinet Manual, para 3.1). Lord Salisbury, who retired in 1902, was the last Prime Minister to lead a Government from the Lords. When the Earl of Home became Prime Minister in 1963, he gave up his peerage and won a seat in the Commons.
3. Ministers sit in Parliament. "There is a convention that an individual will be a minister only if they are a Member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords" (Cabinet Manual, para 3.8). Most ministers sit in the Commons. This is what makes them answerable to Parliament every day, through questions, debates and committees.
4. The Cabinet itself. No statute creates the Cabinet. The Cabinet Manual says "Cabinet is established by convention" (para 4.6). The Prime Minister decides its membership, chairs it and controls its agenda.
5. Collective responsibility. All ministers share responsibility for the Government's decisions. The rule has three parts:
- Confidentiality. Discussions in Cabinet stay private, so ministers can argue frankly.
- Unanimity. Once a decision is made, every minister supports it in public or resigns.
- Confidence. The Government stands or falls together in the Commons.
The Ministerial Code applies the rule "save where it is explicitly set aside" (Cabinet Manual, para 4.4). It was set aside for the 1975 referendum on membership of the European Economic Community. It was set aside again in 2016, when ministers could campaign on either side in the European Union referendum.
6. Individual responsibility. Each minister answers to Parliament for his or her department. In serious cases a minister resigns. In 1954 Sir Thomas Dugdale resigned as Minister of Agriculture over the Crichel Down affair. In 1982 Lord Carrington resigned as Foreign Secretary after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.
7. Loss of confidence ends a Government. A Government defeated on a vote of confidence must resign or ask for a dissolution. In January 1924 Stanley Baldwin's Government lost a vote on an amendment to the King's Speech. Baldwin resigned, and Ramsay MacDonald formed the first Labour Government. In March 1979 James Callaghan lost a confidence vote and an election followed.
8. Dissolution. The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 revived the prerogative to dissolve Parliament. By convention the Sovereign dissolves on the Prime Minister's request. The Lascelles Principles, set out in a letter to The Times in 1950, suggest when a refusal might be justified. The existing Parliament must still be able to work. An election must be harmful to the national economy. And another Prime Minister must be able to govern with a working majority.
9. The caretaker period. Before an election, after an unclear result and after a lost confidence vote, "governments are expected by convention to observe discretion in initiating any new action of a continuing or long-term character" (Cabinet Manual, para 2.27). Essential business continues.
10. A neutral Civil Service. Civil servants serve every Government equally. Ministers "must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service" (Cabinet Manual). This convention is now backed by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Why they are obeyed
Breaking a convention brings swift political punishment. A Government that ignored a confidence vote would face a hostile Commons. A minister who defied collective responsibility would be dismissed. Public opinion and the next election keep everyone within the rules. Where a convention fails, Parliament can write it into law, as it did with the Ponsonby Rule.
Courts recognise conventions but do not enforce them, as Miller (No. 1) shows. They will, however, enforce the legal limits of the powers that conventions govern. In R (Miller) v. The Prime Minister, [2019] UKSC 41, the Supreme Court held the advice to prorogue Parliament in 2019 unlawful.
Conclusion. The basic conventions about Parliament ensure that it meets every year, that Royal Assent follows passage and that the Commons leads on money. They also keep the Lords from blocking manifesto bills, the Speaker neutral and an Opposition ready to govern. Parliament is now consulted on treaties and on the use of force. The conventions about the executive make the Sovereign act on advice and place the Prime Minister and ministers inside Parliament. They hold ministers collectively and individually responsible, and they end a Government that loses the Commons' confidence. Together they turn a legal monarchy into a working parliamentary democracy.
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