III．Parliament 议会

1. The United Kingdom is a unitary, not a federal, state. Parliament consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

英国是中央集权国家，而不是联邦制国家。议会由君主，上议院和下议院组成。

2. The main functions of Parliament are: (1) to pass laws; (2) to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government; (3) to examine government Policy and administrations, including proposal for expenditure; and (4) to debate the major issues of the day.

议会的主要作用是：（1）通过立法；（2）投票批准税为政府工作提供资金；（3）检查政府政策和行政管理，包括拨款提议；（4）当天的议题辩论。

The House of Lords 上院

The House of Lords is made up of the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of Canterbury and Yord and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal consist of 1) all hereditary peers and peeresses of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom(but not peers of Ireland);2)life peers created to assist the House in its judicial duties;3)all other life peers. The main function of the House of Lords is to bring the wide experience of its members into the process of law-making.上院由神职人员和世俗议员组成。神职包括坎特伯雷和约克大主教及24名高级主教。世俗议员包括1）所有英，苏，大不列颠及联合王国的世袭贵族，女贵族（但不包括爱尔兰）；2）协助议院司法工作的终身贵族；3）其他终身贵族。上院的主要作用就是集中议员集体经验智慧制定法律。

The House of Commons 下院

The House of Commons is elected by universal adult suffrage and consists of 651 Members of Parliament (MPs).It is in the House of Commons that the ultimate authority for law-making resides.下

院议员由成人普选产生，共有651名议员。最高立法权掌握在下院手中。

1） Parliamentary Electoral System议会选举制

A General Election must be held every five years and is often held at more frequent intervals. British citizens, together with citizens of other Commonwealth countries and citizens of the Irish Republic resident in Britain, may vote provided they are 1) aged 18 or over,2)included in the annual register of electors for the constituency, and 3)not subject to any disqualification. A candidate must deposit 500 pound.大选每5年一次，且经常不足5年就举行。英国公民包括其他英联邦国家公民和爱尔兰共和国在英国的居民都有选举权。选举条件1）18或18以上，2）选区全体选民的每年选民登记册上登记注册者3）有资格参选者。候选人必须交纳500英镑保证金。

2）The Political Party System政党体制

Since 1945 either the Conservative Party or the Labour Parth has held power.

自1945年以来，一直由保守党或工党轮流执政。