How was the British Constitution supposed to work in theory, and how did it work in actual practice?

British government during the 18^th century was very narrow and was limited to defending the nation, providing security, regulating trade, handling diplomacy for the country, and securing the lives and property of the people. Instead of being citizens of Britain the people were considered subjects. They all had liberty, but their definition meant that every person was free to pursue their own interests as long as they were not criminals or did not harm others. According to the British population of the time the constitution outlined the ideal governmental system. It was not a formal written constitution; it was a ‘concept’ where historical documents, judicial decisions, political writings, and acts of Parliament were all considered part of it. 

The concept called for a balance among the various aspects of government so that there could never be too much power or loss of liberty, which would lead to tyranny. Resulting from this balance should be a mixed government composed of the three types: monarchy, aristocracy, and the people.  This would prevent a particular group from taking over, creating a system of ‘checks and balances’ to protect the rights and liberties of the people. In order to do this, the three types of government needed to be institutionalized, so the Monarchy would become the King, the Aristocracy would become the House of Lords, and the people would become the House of Commons. The checks and balances come into play when all the institutions need to agree in order to pass good legislation.

While this was a great goal to have, in theory the Constitution did not work that way. Even though there were limits to the Monarch’s power according the Constitution, he actually retained the real power. Since the Aristocracy often consisted of nobles, or the wealthy, they were natural allies to the King, and had absolutely nothing in common with the people, leaving very few Parliament seats the King needed to bribe.  The King would then bribe voters or use patronage to garner support for his policies, thus retaining his almost complete power. All this corruption was not a secret to the British people, but most did not care because the system worked for them and England was performing very well during this time period.