Executive Power in Ukraine, Great Britain and the USA.

State Power Institutions in Ukraine: Government of Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers (Government) of Ukraine is the supreme executive authority. Its actions are based on the Constitution, laws of Ukraine and presidential orders. The Government is responsible to the President and is controlled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, to which it also must report. In practice, this dependency results in presidential appointment of a Prime Minister (with parliamentary consent). The President may also suspend Prime Minister’s authorities and discharge him /her. Upon Prime Minister’s submission, the President appoints and discharges the members of Cabinet of Ministers and other heads of central executive authorities. Parliamentary control of the Government and its reporting to the Verkhovna Rada result in parliamentary approval of government-submitted annual budget, parliamentary resolutions on fulfillment of budgetary provisions, approval or rejection of governmental program and control of government’s work. The main responsibilities of the Cabinet of Ministers lie in the areas of foreign affairs, home policy, economy, science and technology, industry, law and humanitarian matters.

State Power Institutions in Ukraine: The President of Ukraine

The President of Ukraine is the Head of the State and acts in its name. Chapter V of the Ukrainian Constitution specifies the powers and obligations of the President. The President of Ukraine is the guarantor of state sovereignty and territorial indivisibility of Ukraine, the observance of the Constitution of Ukraine and human and citizens’ rights and freedoms.

The President, as guarantor of the Constitution, is obliged to put a stop to any actions of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power which directly or indirectly violate the Core Law of Ukraine. The President is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army and heads the National Security and Defense Council.

The President of Ukraine is elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term, on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage, by secret ballot.

A citizen of Ukraine who has attained the age of thirty-five, has the right to vote, has resided in Ukraine for the past ten years prior to the day of elections, and has a command of the state language, may be elected the President of Ukraine.

One and the same person shall not be the President of Ukraine for more than two consecutive terms. The term of presidential office is five years. The President of Ukraine enjoys the right of immunity during the term of authority. The title of the President of Ukraine is protected by law and is reserved for the President for life, unless the President of Ukraine has been removed from office by the procedure of impeachment. The President of Ukraine ensures state independence, national security and the legal succession of the state.

Executive(Great Britain)

The government consists of the ministers appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, who is appointed directly by the Crown and is the leader of the political party which for the time being has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The office of Prime Minister dates from the eighteenth century and is the subject of a number of constitutional conventions. The Prime Minister is the head of the government and presides over meeting of the Cabinet; by convention he is always a Member of the House of Commons. He consults and advises the Monarch on government business, supervises and to some extent coordinates the work of the various ministries and departments and is the principal spokesman for the government in the House of Commons. He also makes recommendations to the Monarch on many important public appointments, including the Lord Chief Justice, Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, and Lords Justices of Appeal.

The Cabinet is the nucleus of government; its members consist of a small group of the most important ministers who are selected by the Prime Minister. The size of the Cabinet is today about 23 and its principal function, much of the work being carried out in Committee, is to determine, control and integrate the policies of the government for submission to Parliament. The Cabinet meets in private and its deliberations are secrets; no vote is taken, and, by the principle of “Cabinet unanimity”, collective responsibility is assumed for all decisions taken.

The central government ministries and departments give effect to government policies and have powers and duties conferred on them by legislation, and, sometimes, under the Royal Prerogative. Each is headed by a minister who is in most cases a member of either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are over 100 ministers of the Crown at the present time; they include departmental ministers (e.g., the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs); non-departmental ministers (e.g., Lord President of the Privy) Council; Paymaster General; Ministers without Portfolio); ministers of state (additional ministers in departments whose work is heavy); and junior ministers (usually known as Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary) in all ministries and departments.

The Lord Chancellor [΄t∫a:ns(ə)lə] and the Law Officers of the Crown deserve special mention at this point. The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain presides over the House of Lord both in the Cabinet and also has departmental responsibilities in connection with the appointment of certain judges. He advises on, and frequently initiates, law reform programmes with the aid of the Law Commissions, the Law Reform Committee and ad hoc committees. The four Law Officers of the Crown include, for England and Wales, the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General; for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General for Scotland. The English Law Officers are usually members of the House of Commons and the Scottish Law Officers may be. They represent the Crown in civil litigation, prosecute in certain exceptionally important criminal cases, and advise government on points of law. They may appear in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the European Commission of Human Rights and Court of Human Rights. They may also intervene generally in litigation in the United Kingdom as representatives of public interest.

The United Kingdom has no Ministry of Justice. The courts and lawyers have a strong tradition of independence from the government. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves, the Lord Chancellor, and the Home Secretary. The Lord Chancellor, who is the head of the legal profession and is always a member of the Cabinet, is concerned with the composition of the courts, with civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general; the Home Secretary is concerned with the prevention of criminal offenses, the apprehension, trial and treatment of offenders, and with the prison service. England and Wales have a single system of law and courts, and Scotland has a system of its own.

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court, which is presided over the magistrates, who are normally Justices of the Peace (JPs). More serious cases then go to the Crown Court presided over by judges or senior barristers specially appointed to perform judicial functions for part of their time. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County Courts. Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown Court. Certain cases are referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg [´lΛks(ə)mbə:g] or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg [´stræzbə:g]. The legal system also includes juvenile courts (which deal with offenders under seventeen) and coroners’ courts (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural death). There are administrative tribunals [trai´blju:nl], which deal with professional standard, disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).

The first thing to notice is that there is no civil code and no criminal code. The law consists partly of statutes, or Acts of Parliament, and partly of common law made up of the decisions of judges, with regard to matters not regulated by statutes, in accordance with custom and reason. A large part of the civil law is not contained in statutes at all but made up of a mass of precedents, privious court decisions. By now, however, almost all actions for which a person may be punished are actions which are specifically forbidden by some statute.

THE EXACUTIVE POWER(USA)

The executive power in the USA belongs to the President and his Administration. Though powers exercised by the President as chief executive are very great, the US Constitution envisages some measures which do not allow distorting the principle of division of power among the three branches of government.

The presidency of the USA is the highest governmental office. President of the USA is the head of the State and the Government; he is also the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. “Administration” is a popular term to identify the executive branch of the federal government responsible for administering and executing laws.

President is assisted by Vice-President and the Cabinet. The President and Vice-President are elected for a term of four years and can be re-elected for another term, but not longer than that, since the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution (1951) limited the President’s term of office.

President must be a natural-born citizen of the USA, at least 35 years old, and at least 14 years a resident of the USA. The term of office of the President begins at noon on January 20.

Presidential elections are held in two stages. The first stage is in November when Americans vote for electors, and the second stage is on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, when electors elect President and Vice-President. After the ballots are opened at a joint session of Congress, the President-Elect becomes the US President.

President conducts foreign affairs, signs treaties in the name of the USA, and appoints diplomats, Cabinet members, federal judges with the consent and advice of the Senate. President ordinarily outlines the course of his administration through his frequent messages to Congress. The major presidential messages sent to Congress are the annual State of the Union message, the annual budgetmessage and the economic report.

Vice-President presides over the Senate. The White House may use Vice-President as a contact man among the senators, or he may sit at Cabinet meetings and become a sort of understudy to the President. He takes the President’s office if the President is unable to finish his term.

US President is assisted in Administration by a Cabinet of 12 members. Cabinet secretaries correspond to European ministers. They are heads of different departments and directly and fully responsible to President who appoints them for an indefinite time. Cabinet officials usually serve during his term. When the president’s service ends, it is customary for the Cabinet to resign, so the new president can appoint new chiefs of executive departments. Among the most important departments one should mention the Department of State responsible for American foreign policy, the Department of Defence or the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, etc. The Department of State ranks ahead of other Departments in prestige and seniority, and the political power of the Secretary of State is second only to that of the President. The Secretary of State has the duty of trying to maintain peace and to negotiate economic and political treaties.

In addition to Secretaries President has an inner Cabinet, the so-called “White House Office”, the name given to the President’s immediate assistants and various advisers on different aspects of home and foreign policy.

Under the US Constitution, the House of Representatives may bring charges against thePresident in impeachment proceedings. The Senate acts as a trial court and a two-third vote in the Senate is necessary for conviction. It is a method provided for getting rid of officials who cannot be dismissed: presidents, vice-presidents and’all civil officers of the United States. They may be removed from office for treason, bribery and other high crimes”.

 

5. Judicial Power in Ukraine, Great Britain and the USA.