영국의 헌정주의와 의회의 우위성

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to trace the developmental process of constitutionalism in England historically. This paper attempts to analyze the power structure of the Constitution in England and explore the meaning of the parliament within the parliamentary system having relations with other authorities. This author selected England as a subject because historically, England is one of the countries that established the representative democracy grounded on the parliamentary system first, and it has been developed continuously adhering to the parliamentary system since then. To trace how constitutionalism has been changed recently in England, I have analyzed the establishment of the Glorious Revolution system and the process of constitutional arguments since then. Political development in the 18th century did not end only in institutional aspects. The 18th century is, in fact, the period when crucial arguments about parliamentary sovereignty did arise. After the Glorious Revolution, political philosophers or legal scholars in England did pay attention to John Locke’s theory. Also, a lot of legal scholars and philosophers from Hume and Blackstone continued researches and discussions to back up Locke’s theory. Constitutionalism was established in England through this process, and after that, it came to be developed towards democratic institutionalization through the revision of the election law or such.