Constitutional Documents & Acts: What Each One Introduced
The UK has no single written constitution — instead a handful of charters and Acts, spread across almost 800 years from Magna Carta (1215) to the Human Rights Act (1998), set out its rights, its union and who can vote. This table lines up the ones the Life in the UK test asks about with what each one actually introduced, so you can place them on a timeline or group them by what they changed. Easy to mix up: the two Acts of Union (Scotland 1707, Ireland 1800) and the two Reform Acts (1832 and 1867).
| Document / Act | Year | What it introduced | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magna Carta | 1215 | Established that even the king was subject to the law. | Rights & rule of law |
| Habeas Corpus Act | 1679 | No one can be held prisoner unlawfully — every prisoner has a right to a court hearing. | Rights & rule of law |
| Bill of Rights | 1689 | Confirmed Parliament's rights and the limits of the king's power; the monarch must be a Protestant and cannot raise taxes or keep an army without Parliament's agreement. | Rights & rule of law |
| Act of Union (Scotland) | 1707 | Created the Kingdom of Great Britain — England, Wales and Scotland; Scotland kept its own legal system and Presbyterian Church. | Union |
| Act of Union (Ireland) | 1800 | United Great Britain and Ireland; the Union Flag added the cross of St Patrick. | Union |
| Reform Act 1832 | 1832 | Abolished the old rotten and pocket boroughs and gave more parliamentary seats to towns and cities, greatly widening who could vote. | Voting & Parliament |
| Reform Act 1867 | 1867 | Created more urban seats and reduced the property qualification for voting. | Voting & Parliament |
| Human Rights Act | 1998 | Incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights — which the UK helped draft and signed in 1950 — into UK law, so government, public bodies and courts must follow it. | Rights & rule of law |
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Practise this topicSources: Life in the UK verified question bank — backend/data/questions_batch1-8.json. Question ids: 15, 29, 30, 74, 82, 98, 169, 187, 246, 248, 278, 293, 328, 403, 426, 438, 567.