Time to shelve Britain’s “unwritten” Constitution?

Leading historian Linda Colley will attempt to explain why Britain's uniquely "unwritten" constitution paradoxically became so influential, and ask whether it is time it was changed, in a keynote public lecture this week. Speaking at the Festival of Ideas on Thursday (21 October), Professor Colley will explore the contradictory position of constitutionalism in British history and ask how something so individual and idiosyncratic has at the same time shaped the constitutions of countries all over the world? Britain, it is often claimed, is the world's only democracy without a written constitution. While parts are in fact written down, the UK lacks a core constitutional document and relies on various unwritten aspects, such as parliamentary constitutional conventions and royal prerogatives, as well. Yet despite its "unwritten" status, it has at the same time influenced the writing of constitutions in other countries more than anywhere else on earth. The lecture will attempt to show how the form evolved and ask whether it is time it was now shelved. The talk is the second in the series of Mark Pigott Lectures, which mark the support given by Mark Pigott, chairman and chief executive officer of the US firm PACCAR, for arts and humanities scholarship at Cambridge. The first lecture was given by Dr. David Starkey at the Festival of Ideas in 2009.