Government

Unlike most other western nations，the United Kingdom does not have one single written constitution stipulating the roles of the government and the rights.This is in large part because the British constitution has developed as the result of many events over the centuries.It includes important historical documents such as the Magna Carta（the Great Charter）of 1215，which laid out the rights and obligations of both the king and the nobles at the time.It also includes Parliamentary acts such as the Petition of Rights of 1628，the Bill of Rights of 1689，and the Reform Act of 1832.Decisions made by courts of law are also part of the constitution，and so are important conventions and customs（for example，the position of Prime Minister is not established in any written constitutional document;rather it has evolved on the basis of conventions and customs）.All of these elements together make up the constitution of the United Kingdom.Today，European Union laws generally also have binding force on the United Kingdom.As a parliamentary democracy，the British government is characterized by a division of powers among the legislature，the executive and the judiciary branches of government.However，the division among these branches is not as absolute as that in the United States because the Prime Minister，head of the executive branch，is also the leader of the majority party in Parliament.