--- title: The King, the courts and the rules above the rules — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The King, the courts and the rules above the rules», a lesson of the politics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In the UK the King signs every law Parliament passes, and opens Parliament by reading a speech from a golden throne, b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/) / The King, the courts and the rules abo… # The King, the courts and the rules above the rules Lesson 7 of the politics course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/0/) — In the UK the King signs every law Parliament passes, and opens Parliament by reading a speech from a golden throne, but the words and the choices belong to the people the voters elected; he signs because that is the custom, and he never says which party he likes. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/3/) — Think of a football match where even the team captain gets a yellow card for a foul: in the same way, a minister or even a former leader must go to court if accused, because nobody is above the law, and being accused is not the same as being guilty. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/4/) — Judges are usually not elected so they can rule fairly even when it is unpopular; when a judge blocks a government plan, that is the system working as designed, though people argue about how far judges should go. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/5/) — Royal Assent is the King's agreement that turns a bill into a law; by custom he always gives it, and no monarch has refused for over 300 years. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/6/) — King Charles is head of state in the UK and also in countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where a governor-general does the King's jobs day to day and each country's own government makes the real decisions. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/7/) — At the King's Speech, which opens Parliament, the King reads out the government's plans, written by the government, not by him. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/8/) — The King and the royal family stay neutral: they do not vote and do not say which party they support; a constitutional monarchy is one where the king's powers are limited by rules. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/10/) — The Constitution is a country's top set of rules; the US Supreme Court decides whether laws and government actions fit it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/11/) — In some courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, judges and barristers wear wigs and robes, a tradition hundreds of years old; a barrister is a lawyer who argues a case in court. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/12/) — The First Amendment to the US Constitution stops the government punishing people for what they say; it does not mean a school, shop or website must let you say anything, and threats are still against the law. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/13/) — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was agreed in 1948, after the Second World War; it lists rights every person should have, such as a fair trial and going to school. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/14/) — Many countries also wrote rights into their own laws, such as the US Bill of Rights (the first ten changes to the US Constitution) and the UK's Human Rights Act. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/15/) — The rule of law means everyone, even leaders, must follow the same laws; an accused person is not guilty unless a court decides so. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/16/) — In 1999 Australians voted in a referendum on becoming a republic, a country without a king or queen; most voted no, partly because they could not agree how a president should be chosen. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/17/) — Separation of powers means splitting power between the lawmakers, the government and the courts, so no one part gets too strong; some people say unelected judges should not overrule elected leaders. - ← previous: [Congress and Parliament: how a law is made](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/) - next →: [Taxes and local councils: bins, roads and schools](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/8-taxes-and-local-councils-bins-roads-and-schools/) - ↑ back to [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/)