THE CONSTITUTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ACT OF UNION

Introduction

The Act of Union holds significant powers in Scotland because it determines whether Scotland has the right to be independent or not. Through the Act of Union, the UK cabinet has the ability to carry out their executive powers upon the people of Scotland. Additionally, without the Act of Union, international and domestic affairs would be left in the hands of Scotland alone thus rendering them free from other parties. The paper shall examine these issues in detail.

Relevance of the Act of Union
There are a number of nations within the world that are governed by similar constitutions. Some of them have managed to break away from such laws and they therefore provide a good example of what could happen to Scotland if it opted to operate separately from the Act Of union as proposed by the SNP. In eastern and Central Europe, many new nations were formed during the twentieth century and they ended up disregarding requirements in the Union agreements based upon relinquishing territorial membership.

In 1707, the Act of Union was created so as to bind Scotland with the other nations constituting the United Kingdom. A number of other amendments were made to the Union with the first one being in 1801. Other Acts were also created to further specify the issues in the Act of Union and these included the Parliament Act, the people’s Acts, the Scotland Act etc. In the Act of Union., Scotland is still recognised as a legal and political entity on is own. This is the reason some elements of the Scottish legal system are distinct to this part of the world. Additionally, this is the reason why Scotland is allowed to posses its own maritime system.

On the other hand, there are certain things that Scotland as a state cannot institute. First of all, the Act of Union requires that the United Kingdom Parliament be the main body that legislates for the constituent countries. Additionally, the constitution also stipulates that only ministers from the UK parliament have the right to hold executive powers. In other words, the constitution stipulates that Scotland should operate under territorial rather than state-wide powers. The Act of Union is instrumental in spelling out the accountability of parliament to its people in the entire UK region. It also specifies how the Cabinet, Prime ministers and Junior cabinet are to be structured.

In the legal system, the Act of Union allows Scottish courts to operate somewhat independently; however, it specifies that appeals must be directed to the Privy Council, the House of Lords or the UK Supreme court. It can therefore be said that the Act of Union acts as a check on the Scottish judiciary system. Through these territorial mechanisms, the Scottish legal system is kept under check because they are held accountable to these regional systems. If the Act of Union were to be disregarded, then chances are that some cases or issues that have been subject to appeal in the UK judicial system would be left unguarded and this may impede certain rights of the Scottish people. As the country is currently, the Act of Union has ensured that the Scottish judiciary is highly accountable and has thus improved its performance.

The UK Parliament has been granted the ability to scrutinise the goings on in the government and the country at large. If the Act of Union were to be eliminated, then this function may be undermined. Scotland is in a position where it would require intense restructuring and revision in order to be able to carry out scrutiny of its government through an independent Parliament.
The Act of Union is also relevant in terms of describing some of the rights and duties of employees or companies that operate within other borders within the United Kingdom. This constitution clearly states that the UK government is the one with the powers to scrutinise or enhance accountability within corporate bodies operating in the UK. Consequently, the Act of Union is important in preserving these rights. It specifies issues such as terms and conditions of employment, pay or compensation, pay agreements and operations between various UK states. Through these Act, the people of Scotland can seek for employment or be employed throughout the UK under safe laws that have been put out in the regional parliament. It can therefore be said that this Act is still relevant in laying out some of these pay agreements and employment terms thus protecting the rights of the Scottish worker.

However, it should be noted that the relationship created between Scotland and the rest of the countries within the UK has been a long term one ever since 1603 during the Union of Crowns. Consequently, even if the Act of Union were to be completely scrapped off, Scotland would still cooperate with Ireland, Britain (through the British Irish Council) and Wales. Besides that, the Act of Union would still not undermine the Sovereignty of Her Majesty the Queen as the head of State within Scotland. It can therefore be said that the Act of Union is not relevant in terms of restricting or enhancing markets within other parts of the UK; this is an aspect that took many centuries to perfect and it is unlikely that the Act of Union would ruin such an arrangement.

Assets and liabilities within the United Kingdom presently are shared between constituent members. The Act of Union defines and lays out some of the ways in which these assets are dealt with. Examples include;
• Social Security benefits
• Armed forces equipment
• The BBC
• Overseas foreign missions
• Liabilities on public sector pensions
The Act of Union is the one that makes constituent countries part of this overall arrangement. If it were to b scraped off or if Scotland were to seek independence, then all the latter issues would be left unattended to. Scotland would have to negotiate with the rest of the UK to arrive at some sort of consensus on how these assets can be divided. During the process of negotiations, there may be certain problems that could crop up and this would undermine the success of the endeavour.

There are many issues that are held together through this piece of legislation and one particularly interesting sector is that of foreign affairs. The Act of Union is responsible for assigning the task of foreign policy creation to the entire UK region. In the international community, Scotland does not have equal leverage compared to other member states. Taking the example of a body such as the European Union; here Scotland does not have leverage like other members and this indicates just how important the Act of Union still is. In matters of defence, Scotland does not have its own voice and highly depends on the decisions made by the UK government. Consequently, participation in foreign security matters such as Iraq would be a matter for discussion if it was not for the Act of Union.

Conclusion
Despite the opposition from the SNP, the Act of Union plays a fundamental role in Scotland; it governs the political, economic and social aspects of the Scottish people’s lives. Through the stipulations in the Act, many opportunities have been availed to workers, the defence system has been streamlined, corporate bodies have been empowered and most important of all- the rights of the common man have received a major boost.

References

Cornes, R. (2008): The Union in 2007: Towards a new constitutional bargain for the Union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; Working draft for VIIth Congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law, Athens , June 11-15 2007

The author of this article is a holder of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and currently pursing PhD Program. He is also a professional academic writer. ResearchPapers247.Com>