Constitutional monarch
Princess Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in the age of 25 after the death of her father, King George the VI. The next year she as given the title “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God< of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and territories, the Head of the British Commonwealth of Nations, defender of the faith”.
So what does the title of constitutional monarch contain and what is the role of the Queen within the UK and the Commonwealth?
One can seem that the Queen takes active part in the governing of the kingdom: she is an integral part of the Parliament together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons. None of the parliamentary bill becomes a law without her Royal Assent. Prime-minister of the UK defeated in general elections or lost the majority in the House of Commons submits his petition to the Queen. And then the Queen offers a leader of the winning party to form a new government or consults with respect to whom it may be entrusted.
Ambassadors accredited in London work not in some governmental department but at her court, and all honours including titles and distinctions in deed are awarded by Prime-minister on behalf of the Queen.
The Queen is a commander-in-chief, head of the English church and on behalf of the Queen all the titles of archbishops and bishops. Formally she even appoints professors to their offices. In accordance with the law monarch is a head of the executive and judiciary and the commander-in-chief.
However it’s important that a monarch has responsibilities but not powers. To run his or her duties a monarch should be a stable center in the changing reality of the UK, a symbol of continuity, bringing together past, present and future for the people who are using democratic ways of elections to decide who should be a prime-minister.
An interesting fact is that Prime-minister in the House of Commons deals with the leader of the opposition whose official name is “leader of her majesty’s opposition”. In other words the monarch in the UK stands above the politics.
Politicians come and go but the hereditary monarch remains. Even death of the monarch with the law of succession in force doesn’t create a situation of political vacuum.
“The King is dead – long live the king!”

The constitution of Great Britain
British Constitution is an unwritten one. There is no act which could be proclaimed officially as the main law of the State. The unwritten constitution of Great Britain contains rules of 3 categories: 1) Statute law 2) Case law 3) Constitutional conventions
In Great Britain statute is accepted to name legislative act passed and approved in accordance with established procedure by the Houses of Parliament and signed by the head of the State. That’s why a set of rules established by statutes got the name of statute law. Naturally rules of statute law are rules not only rules of governmental law but also other branches of law – criminal law, civil law, etc. British political scientists refer to the Bill of Rights of 1689, The Act of Settlement of 1701, The Parliament Act 1911, 1949 and others to statutes with constitutional importance. British political scientists also attribute the Great Charter/ Magna carta 1214 to the constitutional documents.
The judicial precedents have become the source of law in England in the period of early feudalism: since the 13th century the system of judicial precedents has formed and got the name of common law, and since the 15th century one more system of judicial precedents has formed under the name of equity law, thus case law has arisen, its borders were widened by precedents containing statute’s interpretation. The unwritten British constitution of course includes not all the rules of precedent law, but only those rules that regulate important issues of state law.

Opening of Parliament
Historically on gloomy November day services for the most colorful and magnificent annual ceremony: state opening of Parliament. To the sound of trumpets the Queen dressed in white robe and in crown appears in the House of Lords and takes her seat on the throne. Peers of the UK are able to sit down and deputies of lower branches are sent for. Inauguration ceremony of Parliament is by no means a tourists attraction. The Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Whitehall are terms personifying the state system of Great Britain for every English man – the monarchy – parliament – government.
When we talk about British Parliament, we usually mean the House of Commons. Deputies of this House are called MPs, i.e. members if the Parliament, it is its membership reelection which represents parliamentary elections. It is embodied in, But with a view to constitutional law British governmental pyramid is not two-tops but three tops. The Queen is on the throne, peers are sitting in front of her and members of the House of Commons are hurdling behind them – these are 3 components that embody legislative power.
We are used to hearing that the Queen “reigns but doesn’t rule”. Indeed under conditions of constitutional monarchy, the royal prerogatives are rather formal than practical. They boil down to summoning and dissolving Parliament, appointing and dismissing Prime-minister, approving laws passed by Parliament, appointing peers of Kingdom etc. But in all these cases the monarch acts on the advice if Whitehall or on decision of Westminster. If, for example, Parliament were to decide pass a deathsentence on the Queen, it would have to submit this bill to her approval and she in her turn would have to give her Royal Assent.

The House of Lords is relatively small. The woolsack is placed in its front part, near at the foot of the throne. There are red leather benches to the right and to the left of it. About 1200 peers of the Kingdom have the right to sit on them. You don’t need to beat your brains out trying to guess how they can be placed on them. Only one tenth of the overall membership take part in voting which are conducted in the evening. 3 people is enough for quorum. Therefore, having taken the floor peer can speak as long as he wants, and no one has the right to stop him. Auxiliary brake/secondary brake in the hands of enemies of social progress – is the true role of the House of Lords in British system of power.
The House of Commons is surprisingly small: it is only about 20 meters long. Green leather benches are a bit longer than in the House of Lords and they are placed in 5 rows on each side of the aisle. There is no oratorical platform there. Deputies take the floor from their seats. Members of government who are sitting on the front bench are separated from the shadow cabinet only by the aisle in width of 2 swords. Red band drawn on the carpet in front of each bench recall times when precautions were necessary to prevent verbal fights from turning into armed in the House. In British Parliament deputies don’t vote with their hands, but with their legs. At each division of the House as counting of votes is called – MPs who vote “aye” leave through the western doors, and MPs who vote “nay” (against) – through the eastern doors. And they are allotted few minutes for the whole procedure from the moment when signal bell rings. More than hundred of these calls are installed in different rooms in Westminster Abbey. traditionally sittings of the House of Commons begin in the afternoon. On hearing the bell at about ten o’clock when important resolutions are usually voted on deputies have to rush to the House often from home or visits. Beginner of parliament fraction is least of all expected to show oratorical brilliance, original legislative initiatives. The only one thing needed from an ordinary MP or as it is called here a backbencher, he must obey the whip.
It sounds ironical enough the model of western democracy operates on the basis of military discipline. “The chief whip”, “the chief whip of the opposition” are not newspaper epithets but official titles of executives – parliament organizers of each party’sfraction. Their duty is close enough to their name: at a proper moment drive their wards through the right door.
Having taken a majority in Parliament and given an opportunity to the leader of their party to form the government, backbenchers have to put up with this fact that their mission is over and henceforth they will only approve of decisions made outside the House of Commons. A MP has only one opportunity to get the real power – he should become the owner of the ministerial portfolio. Precondition of such appointment is well known – the deputy must obey the whip. A whole system of methods to prevent backbenchers from opposing the Government exists. One of their radical measures is to declare expressed objections as “an important issue that requires a confidence voting”. It’s fraught with adjournment of Parliament, early elections, i.e. puts questions not only about the presence of this party in power but also about membership of this MP in the House of Commons, whose district party organization won’t propose him as deputy next time.

The Government of GB GB is a parliamentary monarchy, i.e. the royal power is not absolute, but constitutional. Powers of the Crown are limited by the Parliament, but this power is hereditary but not elective. There is one widespread legend in England that monarchy is harmless, that the sovereign reigns but doesn’t rule. The Royal power is exercised only through the Parliament and the cabinet of ministers. The Prime minister is a leader of the majority party in the House of Commons. He forms the government and the Cabinet of Ministers whose powers rum for 5 years to the next elections. The residence of Prime Minister is located at 10 Downing Street. Power of the Cabinet is controlled by Parliament. The Cabinet of ministers is composed of the chief ministers of State: Minister of Finance, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense, Lord Chancellor, Lord Privy seal, Paymaster General and many others. Besides the members of the Cabinet there are ministers who enter the composition of the government but not the Cabinet and their prestige is inferior to their colleagues’ one. The Cabinet plays a leading role in public and politic life of the country. The real power belongs to the Cabinet of Ministers but not to Parliament. The ruling party is eager to have stable absolute majority in Parliament. Otherwise, early elections can be appointed on the proposal of Prime Minister. A characteristic feature of British political system is two-party system. The development of 2 parties was the result of alliance of the industrial bourgeoisie and land lord aristocracy. Reform Act 1832 which was carried out by public pressure, has led to significant changes: political landscape has drastically changed in the country, new parties and names – the conservatives (Tories) and the Liberals (the Whigs) emerged. These 2 parties replaced each other in the leadership of the country for nearly a century. Than since 1923 Labour Party has taken the place of the Liberal Perty which survived the crisis and opposed the Conservative Party. At the parliamentary elections in 1997 the Labour party defeated the Conservatives and formed the government which wanted to change the constitution drastically. In the first place it referred to parliament of the country: their intention was to turn the upper House – the house of lords – into elective legislative body by sending there public lords who were chosen by lot, similarly to the system of electing jurors. However the Labour’s plans were not to come true. British people didn’t support their initiatives to reform the supreme legislative body of the country. At present time system of two-chamber legislature is saved in Britain, it is based on 2 main principles - the hereditary and elective, although central government is formed mainly among the lower chamber.

Legal profession The development of equity is inseparably connected with post of the Chancellor. Variously it was both bad and good feature of the system. it was great when the heads of the Chancellorship were such a brilliant lawyers as sir Francis Bacon, Lord Nottingham, each of whom was able to create and state principles of equity. on the other hand every personal shortcoming of the Chancellor automatically reflected on the process in court. As a reault of this in the 17th century when judicial offices began to be for sale the Court of Chancery became notorious. In fact the corruption was widespread in this court tat Lord Maklesfild was impeached. The Court of Chancery had to conflict with the common law courts because of the character of jurisdiction that it exercised. Equity supplemented the common law and corrected its imperfections. The Judicature Acts of 1873-1875 annuled conflicts between the common law courts and the Court of Chancery by having abolished these courts themselves and by having transferred their jurisdiction to the new Supreme Court of Judicature which was divided into 2 parts: the High court of justice and the court of appeal. At the present time the high court of justie consists of 3 divisions: division of the high court of justice are not separate courts. All of them have equal competence, a judge of one division can sit as a judge in any other division, it is actually practiced under direction of the Lord Chancellor. The work is allocated between 3 divisions by this way: issues of the common law are dealt with in the Queen’s Bench Division, cases of the equity are dealt with in the Chancery Division, matrimonial issues and cases connected with children 0 in the Family division. The court of appeal consists of fixed number of ex officio judges, among them only the Master of Rolls and the Lord Chief Justice, also permanent Lord Justice of Appeal carry out judicial work. Originally the Court of Appeal was supposed to hear mainly appeals against decisions of the High Court of Justice. But since the 1875 its jurisdiction has been expanded, it received the right to accept appeals against decisions of the county courts and then appeals in criminal cases. The House of Lords has not become a division f the Supreme Court of Justice in England and therefore it keeps the right to regulate independently the question examination of appeals procedure. The House of Lords rarely acts as the High Court, it has appellate jurisdiction. In civil cases it deals with appeals against decisions of the Court of Appeal, in criminal cases – against decisions of the Queen’s Bench Division. The court f the House of Lords as the court of appellate instance consists of the Lord Chancellor, ordinary Lords Justice of Appeal and those peers who held the highest judicial offices in the past. There must be at least 3 of previously mentioned persons at court session. In practice most appeals are heard only by Lords Justice of Appeal. As the rule they are appointed from among judges of the Court of Appeal and they are authorized as other peers but actually they occupy benches of the independents and do not participate in sessions of the House of Lords, if they are not related to questions of jurisdiction. Legal Profession A distinctive feature of an English legal system is that all representatives of legal profession are divided into 2 groups: solicitors and barristers. Division of the lawyers has begun since 1340. The branch of the barristers was protected from solicitors by the Inns of Court and these Inns refused to admit solicitors after the 19th century. As the result the latter one grouped and in 1973 set up their own professional organization in London. This organization preceded of the law society. The division of the legal profession depends on the character of the corresponding functions carried out by the barristers and solicitors. Barristers are counselors and they conduct cases in the court. Solicitors deal with spadework (preparation as collecting of evidence, interrogating of witnesses, issuing orders). Solicitors have a limited right to lay before the court. The body, which supervises solicitors is the Law society. No one can be appointed to office of solicitor till he or she receives certificate of the Law society verifying that he meets the requirements of training’s direction (successful completion of the article of clerk, legal education and exams) and also to the requirements of personal qualities to be a solicitor of the High Court. In England only those persons can be barristers who are the members of one of the 4 Inns of Court: Lincolns Inn, Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn. These Inns are as old as legal profession in England itself and they are likely to have derived for residential neighborhood for people who practiced law. There are 3 groups of members in Inns of Court: benchers who manage Inns, barristers who are accepted into the corporation benchers and clerks who are admitted to the corporation by benchers. Benchers are in full control of the admission of the students and barristers admittance corporation. The main condition for the clerk who asks to be admitted to barristers are articles of clerkship during 8 terms, passing final exam and payment of admission fee. Clerk must be over 21 years.

Those who got used winning The Conservative Party is the oldest party not only in the Great Britain – but in the whole world. It used to be called as the most successful machine for winning of elections: the most part of the XX century Britain was ruled by the Tories. Neither trade union movement in the Great Britain that gained strength with the Labor Party to be its political instrument, nor right and left extremists who raised in 30-ties, nor enemies managed to crush their superiority, and the title “Iron Lady”, given to Margaret Tetchier, became the symbol of unbreakable rule of the Conservative Party on the British political arena. England that had the first modern parliament in Europe even in 1265 has the right to be called as the motherland of political parties – Tories and a little bit later – Whigs – whose parliamentary conformation by the beginning of the 18th century can be compared with modern political struggle. In 1832 the first party of the world thanks to their leader Robert Pill was organizationally formed and was named as the Conservative Party that was honored to symbolize the spirit of the British nation that by that time possessed almost one third of the planet. The beginning of the 20th century in the Great Britain was met under the rule of the Tory leader who was the hereditary marquis Solsberry, and he was cautious about unrestrained pressure of democracy and afraid of its consequences for the party that indigenously was based on aristocratic ruling. However, the universal suffrage that was introduced in 1918 in the UK had only strengthened the positions of the Tories who adjusted to populist work with masses very quickly. By the beginning of the 90-ties after significantly won elections 4 times in a raw, the conservatives strengthened the idea that they would rule for ever. The catastrophe happened in 1997: during parliamentary elections in May the Tories under the leadership of the Prime-Minister John Major suffered the most crucial defeat during the half of the century, not being able to stand under the pressure of young and energetic leader of the Labor Party Tony Blair. Blair had reformed his party beyond recognition: the left organization that used to be a political wing of trade unions in the past, suddenly had adopted moderate right-of-centre positions and practically thrown away the conservative administration discredited by corruption accusations and simply tired of almost two decades of ruling. The Tories became the opposition and chose William Hagen on the position of their new leader in summer 1997. Four-year leadership of MR. Hagen had more than insignificant results: in June 2001, during parliamentary elections the Tories stayed on their previous level and they even gave some deputy mandates to the Liberal Democrats. Hagen, being unable to suggest to the electorate neither charisma nor detailed program, resigned and gave to 318 thousand of the party members the chance to elect a new leader.

The constitution of the USA In order to strengthen independence and to crate strong federal government “which will have enough power to run national affairs” it was decided to summon the constitutional convention presided over by George Washington on May 1787 in Philadelphia to develop a plan of concentrated actions of former British colonies that declared themselves as independent states. To this effect 12 of 13 states came to the town, where the Declaration of independence was signed. Only Rhode Island – the smallest state refused to participate. In the course of various conceptual approaches to the form of central government the delegates of Convention developed brief, but thoughtful document called the Constitution of the U.S. The Constitution created federal system with strong central government. Federation means separation of power between center and its consistent parts reserving some rights to each party. The Constitution also provided for the election of country’s leader – the President. Under the Constitution federal laws couls be passed only by the Congress made up of representatives which were to be elected by people. The Constitution also provided national system of judiciary headed by the Supreme Court. Delegates from different sates noted that the Constitution didn’t contain articles; that would guarantee freedoms, basic rights and privileges of citizens/ And while the delegates of the Convention didn’t find it necessary to include in the Constitution such guarantees many people insisted on such written guarantees against tyranny. that is how “Bill of Rights” was included. The Constitution came into force in March 1789. The “Bill of Rights”, including 10 additions called as amendment to the Constitution, was included in the Constitution in 1791. Over the years other amendments to the Constitution were adopted. By present there are 16 more amendments, but in whole political system established by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has the same character as it used to be in 1770. Process, that have changed greatly world’s look over the last 200 years demand the Constitution demand the Constitution should be viewed as living creative document that can be interpreted by scholars and judges who have been called upon to apply its provision to circumstances unforeseen at the time it was written.

The constitution of the USA (2) In the course of the convention the delegates worked out the form of government for the U.S. Its plan was written in very simple language in the document titled as “Constitution of the U.S.” This Constitution crated federal system with strong central government. The federation involves separation of powers between center and its constituent parts reserving some rights to each party. The Constitution also provided for the election of the country’s leader, the President. Under the Constitution federal laws were to be passed only by the Congress made up of representatives elected by the people. The Constitution also provided national system of judiciary headed by the Supreme Court. The delegates developed the system of government consisting of 3 branches of power: executive, legislative, judicial. Every branch of power has its own powers that the others don’t have and each branch has a way of opposing and limiting wonderful actions by another branch. The constitution also defines powers left to state governments. States reserved the right to conduct their inner state affairs in their own discretion on providing democratic standards of government.To emphasize democratic intent of the Constitution it opens with the Preamble which makes it clear who establishes the government: “We, the People” and its purpose “to promote general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity”. Delegates from different states stated that the Constitution didn’t contain articles, that would guarantee freedoms, basic rights and privileges of citizens. And while the delegates of the Convention didn’t find it necessary to include to the Constitution such guarantees, many people insisted on such written guarantees. That is how the “Bill of Rights” was included. The Constitution was ratified in March 1789. The Bill of Rights consisting of 10 additions called as amendments to the Constitution was included in it in 1791. Over the years other amendments to the Constitution were adopted, by the point there are 16 more, but in the whole political system established by the Constitution and by the Bill of Rights has the sane nature as it used to have long ago. The process that have changed greatly world’s look over the last 200 years demand that the Constitution should be viewed as a living creative document that opened to the interpretation by scholars and judges who are called upon to bring its provisions to circumstances unforeseen at the time it was written.

Bills The legislative procedure consists of 3 stages of reading of the Bill. The first stage is bringing the bill in the House by the registration by the secretary of the Senate or by the clerk of the House f Representatives. After the Bill is brought in the House it is referred to the appropriate committee. While the discussing of the bill in the Committee. The claims of “interested persons” are heard. Besides, the committees send the Bills to the special ministry to let them be checked up carefully. The Committee usually is in favour of the Bills, only if it has got the approval of respective department. The right of legislating formally belongs only to the members of the Congress. In fact they introduce the Bill prepared by the Government offices or by the lobbyist bureau which represents the monopolies interests. The second stage starts with the bill that has come from the Committee is read by clerk in the House which gathered as the Committee f the whole House. After that the vice-president of the Committee makes a report and the recommendation and after that the deputies can amend and complete it. They are accepted or rejected depending on the decision of the Committee. The discussion of the Bill in he Senate on this stage is not limited by the time. According to the rule the time of the presentation is limited by 5 minutes. But if the Senator is against the Bill the time of his presentation is unlimited and he is forbidden to be interrupted. This practice is called filibustering. Obstructionists can speak for ages if the Senate wouldn’t decide to stop the debates by 2/3 of voices. Only those Bulls of brought in have chances to pass through the House which has got the support of majority. If there are no objections against the represented Bill the third reading takes place. On the third stage the Bill is proscribed wholly with the amendments and is moved to the voting. The Bill is usually taken by the simple majority of votes. The Bill taken by one of the Houses is moved to the other one and passes all the stages. As all the Houses in legislating are equal the rejection of the bill by one House but if it was taken by another House means its whole rejection. After the Bill is taken by the Senate and the House of representatives it is given to the president who is to approve it or to reject it in 10 days. The Congress can overcome the president’s veto if every House has 2/3 of all the voices.

The “Bill of Rights” In the opinion of Americans the true foundation of their liberty is the “Bill of Rights” adopted in 1791. It consists of 10 short provisions guaranteeing freedom dn individual rights and prohibiting governments interference in private lives of citizens. Each of these provisions was adopted as amendment to the original text of the Constitution. The “Bill of Rights” guarantees freedom of worship, speech and press to Americans. And it also ensures the right of peaceful assembly, the right to protest against the government’s wrong actions, the right to require changes. Americans have right to bear arms if they want to. Thanks to the “Bill of Rights” neither the police nor representatives of armed forces have the right to arrest or search citizens without a due reason. Neither do they have right to conduct search of citizen’s house without a proper court order. The “Bill of Rights” guarantees the right of accused to have speedy trial. He can be judged by jury trial and the accused should have the right to legal counsel and the right that the witness shall be compelled to attend the trial. Cruel and unusual punishments are forbidden. Over the years 16 amendments to the Constitution were adopted. Not too many if we take into account that the Constitution was written in 1787. Only several amendments should be mentioned. One, abolished the slavery, and three that guarantee citizenship and full rights to everybody irrespectively of the race. As well as amendment providing women the right to vote and amendment that reduces voting age qualification to 18 years.

System of checks and balances While talking about the dividing of the administration into 3 independent powers Americans often mention so called System of Checks and Balances. This system appears in different ways preventing each branch from making a false step. Here are some examples of this system. If the Congress proposes the Act which the President considers to be unacceptable the president has the President has the power of veto. It means that the Bill will not become the law. The Congress can override the veti by 2?3 majority under the voting in both Houses. If the Congress passes the law which is appealed afterwards as unconstitutional the Supreme Court has the power to declare law to be illegal and abolish it. The President has the power to make agreements with foreign countries and appoint officials including the members of the Supreme Court. However the Senate must ratify all the contracts and approve all appointments before they come into force. Thus the Congress prevents President from making possible unreasoned appointments.

Impeachment
Impeachment is the prosecution of the President of other senior federal official who can’t be dismissed in usual way for his violation of the law. Under the Constitution of the USA federal officials will be reinforced from the office if in charge of impeachment they are found guilty of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors”.
Usually investigation is held by judiciary committee, then it gives recommendations to the House of Representatives. The impeachment charge is brought by a majority votes of the House of representatives. Once the House has voted an impeachment, it then selects members to present the case before the Senate. The decision about impeachment is not enough for removal from office. It is required decision of the Senate of a verdict of guilty.
In these cases the Senate takes the role of the Court. The Chief Justice of the USA or the vice-president in all other cases, the Presiding officer of the Senate, whether the vice-president or a president pro tempore. The accused has the right for defense. The Senate makes a decision by the individual voting. A vote of 2/3 of the senators present is required for a verdict of guilty/ It results in removal from office, but not inability to hold any governmental position if future. For this purpose the special decision is required that is made by simple majority vote.
During the whole history of the USA, the House only once decided to impeach the President Andrew Johnson. This decision was made by 128 votes against 47.
The president pro tempore of that thime that should become a president in case of Johnson’s removal is known to be sure enough about the verdict of guilty of Johnson, that he selected the ministers of Cabinet before the final decision of the Senate. But in order to find him guilty the accusation lacked one vote: there were 35 votes for and 19 against. Due to this one vote Johnson was kept on his position.
The last impeachment trial took place in 1936 when the federal judge Ritter was dismissed, although he was not disqualified from federal service.
The threat of the impeachment has the sobering effect on many senior political officers, so the President Nixon who was afraid of the accusation in the Watergate scandal chose to go into voluntary retirement in 1974 and the Khafor Hart who was afraid of the scandal because of the love affair with the beauty Diana, he refused to participate in the president race on the final stage and preferred quite comfortable existence in the Supreme legislative body of the country.
Bill Clinton was political clever and civil courage enough not to fold before the difficulties appeared in his long way of the head of the country. He wasn’t afrais to stand in front of the trial of the Senate committee on charges on “Monica Levinsky” case although the House of Representatives has already made the verdict of guilty and was ready to press it against the President and he himself didn’t deny it, but nevertheless it wasn’t enough votes for making the verdict of guilty by the majority of votes. Finally Bill Clinton was acquitted and continued to be the President till the end of his legitimate term.

The Congress of the USA The role of the Congress is significant in the political life of the USA. It is a highest legislative body of the country. There are 2 Houses in the Congress: the House of representatives and the Senate. The membership of the House consists of 435 members, the Senate – 100 (2 representatives from each state). One of the most important prerogatives of the Congress is confirming of the state budget and expenses on the government activity. Congress can prevent, amend or delay the implementation of any measure of the administration that requires financial expenditures. Many congressmen stand for enforcing the role of the congress in the formation external and internal policy of the USA. Sessions if the Congress are summoned once a year and practically run for several months. As a rule both houses sit on the session at the same time, though the Senate can be convened individually. The president can convene a special session. The main work of the Congress is carried out in its numerous committees and subcommittees. After the Congress starts its normal legislative activity, all bills and resolutions are referred to this or that standing committee. In the house of representatives the speaker decides to what committee the bill should be referred, in the Senate vice-president or president pro Tempore of the Senate decides this question. As a rule the Senate and the House accept recommendations of the committees without substantial amendments. In the Congress committees have extraordinary role. In practice, they predetermine future of the questions and bills referred for their consideration. As president Wilson once noticed:”the Congress in session is a show for the public while the committees of the congress is the Congress at work. ” The most important officer of the lower house is the Speaker. He runs debates, makes appointments to all select committees and to the conference committees, amends documents of the House and makes a number of important decisions and regulations, carries out many other functions that allows him to influence the House’s decisions. The speaker is considered to be reelected every 2 years by the House of representatives as its permanent presiding officer. Practically the House simply approves candidate who was nominated at the caucus of majority party. In the Senate the standing chairman is vice-president of the USA who is not elected by the House but at the presidential elections. The members of the upper House elect temporary Chairman who is the most important person in the Senate is the leader of the majority party. So called “whips” or party’s organizers or several their assistants are elected in both chambers in order to help party leaders. The task of the party whip is to have all party members maintain party discipline and vote in line with decision of the party top and as well as be present at the session when a vote on the important issues. The Congress party leaders have great influence and a wide scope of powers. They work in close connection with chairmen of standing committees who always consult them and together determine the future if the bills.

Legislative power. Legislature. Legislative power is composed of elected representatives from all the states and it has the sole power to legislate federal laws,to impose and collect federal taxes, to declare war or to put in effect treaties with foreign countries. The Congress is personificated legislative power, it consists of 2 branches called Houses. The membership of the House of Representatives is lawmakers elected each for 2 years: each member of the House represents the constituency of his native state. The number of constituencies in state is defined on the basis of the sences held every 10 years. States with denser population have more constituencies and accordingly more representatives than less populated states, some of them have only one representative in the House. At the present time there are 435 representatives in the House of Representatives of the USA. The Senate consists of legislators elected for a 6 year term. From each state regardless of the population 2 senators are elected. This assures equal representation of the smaller states in one chamber of the Congress. The schedule of the Senate elections allows reelect only 113 of the senators every 2 years so that after each election certain number of experienced figures remain in the Senate’s membership. The main duty of the Congress is enactment laws including fiscal laws that finance government activity. The law begins with the introduction of the measure called a bill. Then it is read and scrutinized in committees, commented and amended in the House where it was introduced. Then voting is held. If the bill is approved it passes some procedure. If the Houses adopt different verdings of the same bill, representatives from both chambers work together in the conference committee. Groups that try to persuade congressmen to vote for or against the bill are called lobbyists. After passing both chambers of the Congress the agreed bill is sent to the President for his signature. Only after the President’s signing the bill becomes the law.

The Judiciary.
The Judiciary power of the United States are vested in the Supreme Court- the only court of the country which establishment is mentioned in the Constitution. Besides, the Congress has established 11 federal appellate courts and 91 district courts subordinated to them. The federal judges are appointed for life and can be removed from their office only by impeachment or court of the Congress. All the cases that are valid according to the Constitution, Laws and other treaties of the United States, as well as cases concerning foreigners, government and cases in which a federal government is a party are under the state jurisdiction. The cases that are under the jurisdiction of the states, usually are not treat by the federal court. Nowadays, the Supreme Court includes a Chief Justice and eight associate justices. Apart from the several exceptions, all cases go to the Supreme Court either by appeal from the lower instances- federal courts or by state courts. The majority of such cases are about the disagreements in the interpretation of the law and codes of law. In practice, the most important function of the Supreme Court is to verify that the activities of the legislative and executive branches are conformed to the Constitution. This kind of right of the juridical control was defined not by the Constitution but by Supreme Court itself by analyzing its constitutional role while dealing with the case “Merbery against Madison” in 1803, that was the starting point in this aspect of the activity.