ABSTRACT
In the British system of government, which is not based upon a single key document, known as a written constitution, important elements depend on tradition or convention. This means that over many years the importance of certain institutions and their ways of proceeding have evolved and been refined by experience to the stage where their traditions and conventions have, for all practical purposes, as much stability and authority as they could have in a written constitution. Where detailed arrangements are no longer appropriate for their purpose or have simply become unacceptable, they are replaced with new arrangements as a result of a new convention, or a law, or an authoritative proclamation such as an Order in Council under the royal prerogative.
