III．Parliament 議會

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.

英國是中央集權國家，而不是聯邦制國家。議會由君主，上議院和下議院組成。

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.

議會的主要作用是：（1）通過立法；（2）投票批準稅為政府工作提供資金；（3）檢查政府政策和行政管理，包括撥款提議；（4）當天的議題辯論。

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.上院由神職人員和世俗議員組成。神職包括坎特伯雷和約克大主教及24名高級主教。世俗議員包括1）所有英，蘇，大不列顛及聯合王國的世襲貴族，女貴族（但不包括愛爾蘭）；2）協助議院司法工作的終身貴族；3）其他終身貴族。上院的主要作用就是集中議員集體經驗智慧制定法律。

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

院議員由成人普選產生，共有651名議員。最高立法權掌握在下院手中。

1） Parliamentary Electoral System議會選舉制

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.大選每5年一次，且經常不足5年就舉行。英國公民包括其他英聯邦國家公民和愛爾蘭共和國在英國的居民都有選舉權。選舉條件1）18或18以上，2）選區全體選民的每年選民登記冊上登記注冊者3）有資格參選者。候選人必須交納500英鎊保證金。

2）The Political Party System政黨體制

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

自1945年以來，一直由保守黨或工黨輪流執政。