Main Street, Gibraltar
Main Street is the main arterial street in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Main Street's route was established in the 14th century, confirmed when the Puerta de África were built in 1575, during the Spanish period. Nearly every building in Main Street was damaged during the Great Siege of Gibraltar when from 1779 to 1783 the town was attacked by a combined French and Spanish fleet; because Main Street was near the harbour it was bombarded by the ships in the harbour. Col. John Drinkwater wrote "that some few, near South-port, continued to be inhabited by soldiers families, but in general the floors and roofs were destroyed and the bare shell only was left standing."The street's route has only had minor adjustment when the front of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned was re-modeled and downsized in 1801 in order to straighten the street on the orders of the British Governor, Charles O'Hara. A branch of Marks & Spencer was established in Gibraltar on the street in 1968. Main Street is Gibraltar's main shopping district.
It runs north–south through the old town, pedestrianised and lined with buildings displaying a blend of Genoese, Andalusian and British Regency styles, most of which have shops on the ground floor. Upper floors provide residential accommodation or offices. Tourists and visitors will find a wide variety of shops, many of which will be familiar from British high streets. Irish Town is a street name and one of Main Street's sub-districts and was named in the early 19th century when Gibraltar was split into differing quarters. Gibraltar's town centre is protected by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust and is part of a continual restoration programme. Grand Casemates Square at the northern end of Main Street, once the centre of public executions, is the hub of Gibraltar's nightlife, is filled with numerous restaurants and bars. Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Gibraltar Governor's Residence, The Convent Gibraltar Law Courts Gibraltar Parliament Ince's Hall Theatre John Mackintosh Hall King's Chapel Royal Gibraltar Post Office at No. 104
Political development in modern Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. During the early days of the British administration, Gibraltar was maintained as a military outpost with limited attention paid to its role as a trading post. Long term settlement of Gibraltar was uncertain but as Spain's power waned it became established as an important base for the British Royal Navy. Throughout the 19th century there was conflict between the competing roles of military and trading posts, leading to tensions between the civilian population and the Governor of the day; some Governors encouraged the development of the civilian role in government, whilst others regarded it as a nuisance. As a result, compared with other former British colonies, civilian Government in Gibraltar emerged in the 20th century as the needs of the civilian population were considered by Governors as subordinate to the needs of the military. Since World War II, Gibraltarians have asserted their own individual identity.
The Rock's relationship with Spain and the sovereignty dispute continues to affect the Politics of Gibraltar to this day. The majority of the original Spanish population left Gibraltar following the Anglo-Dutch Capture of Gibraltar in 1704, taking with them the articles of the former Spanish administration; as a result, the current constitution and laws of Gibraltar reflect English common law and Acts of Parliament. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the remnants of the Spanish population were augmented by a settler population established as the British maintained a trading post alongside the military garrison; as the number of inhabitants continued to grow, they found their political and legal standing became dependent on individual Governors and their commitment to the development of a civilian society. Long term settlement of Gibraltar was not contemplated and on several occasions in the 18th century the British considered returning Gibraltar to Spanish rule. In addition, several Spanish attempts to retake Gibraltar, most notably during the Great Siege of Gibraltar meant that long term settlement was never inevitable.
Gibraltar was unquestionably a fortress and a colony second during the 18th century. During the 19th century, as Spain's power waned, the Napoleonic Wars reinforced the importance of Gibraltar as a fortress and Royal Navy base, it was declared a Crown colony in 1830. The first civil judiciary was authorised in 1720, with a separate criminal and civil jurisdiction for Gibraltar created in 1739. However, there were no civilian courts and jurisdiction was exercised by the military under the authority of the Governor. Justices of the peace were first appointed in 1753 and a vice admiralty court established in 1793 to provide for the public auction of enemy ships captured by the Royal Navy; the first political advances took place during the governorship of Sir George Don which started in 1814. An Exchange and Commercial Library was founded in 1817, with the Exchange Committee focused on furthering the interests of merchants based in the fortress; the Exchange Committee evolved into an organ that provided for a local voice in government, although of itself it had no real powers.
Upon declaring Gibraltar to be a Crown Colony in 1830, the Crown established an independent judiciary and a Supreme Court of Justice. This reflected the British colonial system, where individual colonies had their own, distinct governments and judicial systems; the Charter, fell short of explicitly providing for a local role in government, although responsibility for government of Gibraltar passed from the War Office to the newly created Colonial Office. The Gibraltar Police Force was established following the model of the Metropolitan Police. Although there was not an explicit role for the local population in Ggvernment, Governor Sir George Don encouraged the development of the civilian administration. Following the establishment of the Exchange Committee by merchants and landowners, Don looked to the committee to provide a local voice, his successor Sir Robert Gardiner proved to be less keen, arguing that the needs of the civilian population were subordinate to the military garrison. Sir Robert suppressed a public petition from the Exchange Committee pressing for an enquiry into his administration in 1852 but was recalled to London in 1855 as unease in his administration grew.
The role of the civilian administration remained focused on order. Political development remained slow and limited by the role of Gibraltar as a fortress. An 1889 ordinance defined the rights to residency, highlighting the importance of native-born individuals. In 1910, the new governor Sir Archibald Hunter sought to administer Gibraltar as a fortess, regarding the civilian population as something of a nuisance. Following disquiet in the civilian population, Sir Archibald was recalled before his term of office ended, it was not until 1921. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 put an early end to the beginnings of self-government in Gibraltar. Gibraltar's strategic geographical position and the threat of bombing raids by the Axis powers led to the evacuation of most of the civilian population. Many were evacuated first to Morocco and to the United Kingdom, others were taken to the Portuguese island of Madeira or the British colony of Jamaica; the evacuation led to conflicting emotions. Spanish neutrality ensured Gibraltar was never the subject of a
Commander-in-chief
A commander-in-chief, sometimes called supreme commander, is the person that exercises supreme command and control over an armed forces or a military branch. As a technical term, it refers to military competencies that reside in a country's executive leadership – a head of state or a head of government. A commander-in-chief role if held by an official, need not be or have been a commissioned officer or a veteran; such countries follow the principle of civilian control of the military. The formal role and title of a ruler commanding the armed forces derives from Imperator of the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire, who possessed imperium powers. In English use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639, it continued to be used during the English Civil War. A nation's head of state holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. In a parliamentary system, the executive branch is dependent upon the will of the legislature.
Governors-general and colonial governors are often appointed commander-in-chief of the military forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as supreme commander, sometimes used as a specific term; the term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship, as a subordinate to a head of state. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch, special branch or within a theatre of operations; this includes heads of states who: Are chief executives with the political mandate to undertake discretionary decision-making, including command of the armed forces. Ceremonial heads of state with residual substantive reserve powers over the armed forces, acting under normal circumstances on the constitutional advice of chief executives with the political mandate to undertake discretionary decision-making. According to the Constitution of Afghanistan, The President of Afghanistan is the Commander-in-chief of Afghan Armed Forces.
According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces. The incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Ilir Meta. Under part II, chapter III, article 99, subsections 12, 13, 14 and 15, the Constitution of Argentina states that the President of the Argentine Nation is the "Commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Nation", it states that the President is entitled to provide military posts in the granting of the jobs or grades of senior officers of the armed forces, by itself on the battlefield. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces. Under chapter II of section 68 titled Command of the naval and military forces, the Constitution of Australia states that: The command in chief of the naval and military forces of the Commonwealth is vested in the Governor General as the Queen's representative. In practice, the Governor-General does not play an active part in the Australian Defence Force's command structure, the democratically accountable Australian Cabinet de facto controls the ADF.
The Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. Section 8 of the Defence Act 1903 states:The Minister shall have the general control and administration of the Defence Force, the powers vested in the Chief of the Defence Force, the Chief of Navy, the Chief of Army and the Chief of Air Force by virtue of section 9, the powers vested jointly in the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force by virtue of section 9A, shall be exercised subject to and in accordance with any directions of the Minister; the commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister. The only exception was the first commander-in-chief, General M. A. G. Osmani, during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, commander of all Bangladesh Forces, reinstated to active duty by official BD government order, which after independence was gazetted in 1972, he relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh.
Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the supreme command of the President of the Republic. The President of Belarus is the Commander-in-Chief of the Belarusian Armed Forces; the Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. The powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the governor general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office and special cuff braid serving as rank insignia. By constitutional convention, the Crown's prerogative powers over the armed forces and constitutional powers as commander-in-chief are exercised on the advice of the prime minister and the rest of Cabinet, the governing ministry that commands the confidence of the House of Commons. According to the National Defence Act, t
Judiciary of Gibraltar
The judiciary of Gibraltar is a branch of the Government of Gibraltar that interprets and applies the law of Gibraltar, to ensure equal justice under law, to provide a mechanism for dispute resolution. The legal system of Gibraltar is a mix of common law and statute; the hierarchical system of courts includes a magistrates' court, a supreme court and a non-resident appellate court. The highest Court of Appeal for Gibraltar is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, able to hear appeals from the Gibraltar Court of Appeal. In relation to matters of European Community Law, the European Court of Justice is the highest authority; the next highest Court is the Court of Appeal. This Court is composed of an odd number of judges not fewer than three; the Chief Justice is an ex-officio member of the Court of Appeal but may not hear appeals of his own decisions. The Supreme Court is composed of four judges — the Chief Justice and a further 3 puisne judges appointed by the Governor; the Court hears civil and criminal proceedings, including Family Jurisdiction, Court of Protection, Admiralty Jurisdiction and Ordinary Jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court hears appeals from the Magistrates' Court. The lower courts are the Coroner's Court and the Magistrates' Court — this court hears criminal and family cases. Below the Magistrates' Court, there are tribunals for social security and employment matters. New courts were opened in September 2012 by the Minister of Justice Gilbert Licudi; the new purpose-built building houses seven courts, one for a Coroner, two for Magistrates and four supreme courts. Gibraltar Courts Service Organisation of Justice in Gibraltar
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their sub-divisions. Ill-defined, the term has different meanings depending on context, it is used to designate the monarch in either a personal capacity, as Head of the Commonwealth, or as the king or queen of his or her realms. It can refer to the rule of law. A corporation sole, the Crown is the legal embodiment of executive and judicial governance in the monarchy of each country; these monarchies are united by the personal union of their monarch. The concept of the Crown developed first in England as a separation of the literal crown and property of the kingdom from the person and personal property of the monarch, it spread through English and British colonisation and is now rooted in the legal lexicon of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies, the other 15 independent realms. It is not to be confused with any physical crown, such as those of the British regalia; the term is found in various expressions such as "Crown land", which some countries refer to as "public land" or "state land".
The concept of the Crown took form under the feudal system. Though not used this way in all countries that had this system, in England, all rights and privileges were bestowed by the ruler. Land, for instance, was granted by the Crown to lords in exchange for feudal services and they, in turn, granted the land to lesser lords. One exception to this was common socage—owners of land held as socage held it subject only to the Crown; when such lands become owner-less they are said to escheat. Bona vacantia is the royal prerogative; the monarch is the living embodiment of the Crown and, as such, is regarded as the personification of the state. The body of the reigning sovereign thus holds two distinct personas in constant coexistence: that of a natural-born human being and that of the state as accorded to him or her through law; the terms the state, the Crown, the Crown in Right of, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of, similar are all synonymous and the monarch's legal personality is sometimes referred to as the relevant jurisdiction's name.
As such, the king or queen is the employer of all government officials and staff, the guardian of foster children, as well as the owner of all state lands and equipment, state owned companies, the copyright for government publications. This is all in his or her position as sovereign, not as an individual; the Crown represents the legal embodiment of executive and judicial governance. While the Crown's legal personality is regarded as a corporation sole, it can, at least for some purposes, be described as a corporation aggregate headed by the monarch. Whilst the Crown refers to the monarch, this reference is made in re the monarch this reference is to the monarch in their capacity as monarch, does not refer to that individual in their totality of ownership interests and actions; the monarch can act in a private capacity. This duality of characterisation can be illustrated in several ways. In property ownership for example, although both are royal residences, Buckingham Palace is the property of the Crown via the Crown Estate whilst Balmoral Castle is the property of Elizabeth II and not of the Crown.
The latter property can be alienated by the Queen, whereas any disposition of the former property would need to be done via instrument of government as an act of state. The Queen's bank accounts at Coutts contain components of her private wealth only, whilst the resources of the monarch acting as the Crown are dispensed from HM Treasury and the Crown Estate to the Royal Household. A third example is in employment relationships; however those who assist as employees of the monarch as the Crown do so on employment from the Royal Household, the official department charged with supporting the monarch. Those who a
Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament
The Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament is the presiding officer of the Gibraltar Parliament, the legislature of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The current Speaker is Adolfo Canepa, appointed on 18 October 2012, following the resignation of Haresh Budhrani. Below is a list of Speakers of the Gibraltar Parliament:A Legislative Council, the predecessor of the parliament, was inaugurated on November 23, 1950. A Speaker was appointed in 1958
Government of the United Kingdom
The Government of the United Kingdom, formally referred to as Her Majesty's Government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is commonly referred to as the UK Government or the British Government; the government is led by the Prime Minister. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet; the government ministers all sit in Parliament, are accountable to it. The government is dependent on Parliament to make primary legislation, since the Fixed-terms Parliaments Act 2011, general elections are held every five years to elect a new House of Commons, unless there is a successful vote of no confidence in the government or a two-thirds vote for a snap election in the House of Commons, in which case an election may be held sooner. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most to command the confidence of the House of Commons by possessing a majority of MPs.
Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister and the cabinet. The Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. In most cases they exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, though some Cabinet positions are sinecures to a greater or lesser degree; the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the general election on 7 May 2015, when David Cameron was the party leader. Prior to this and the Conservatives led a coalition from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats, in which Cameron was prime minister; the Government is referred to with the metonym Westminster, due to that being where many of the offices of the government are situated by members in the Government of Scotland, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive in order to differentiate it from their own.
A key principle of the British Constitution is. This is called responsible government; the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by Parliament; this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into the House of Commons; the House of Commons is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the upper house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws, the House of Commons can vote to overrule its amendments. Although the House of Lords can introduce bills, most important laws are introduced in the House of Commons – and most of those are introduced by the government, which schedules the vast majority of parliamentary time in the Commons. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, because they must pass through a number of readings before becoming law.
Prior to introducing a bill, the government may run a public consultation to solicit feedback from the public and businesses, may have introduced and discussed the policy in the Queen's Speech, or in an election manifesto or party platform. Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House. For most senior ministers this is the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. There have been some recent exceptions to this: for example, cabinet ministers Lord Mandelson and Lord Adonis sat in the Lords and were responsible to that House during the government of Gordon Brown. Since the start of Edward VII's reign in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. A similar convention applies to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it would be politically unacceptable for the budget speech to be given in the Lords, with MPs unable to directly question the Chancellor now that the Lords have limited powers in relation to money bills.
The last Chancellor of the Exchequer to be a member of the House of Lords was Lord Denman, who served as interim Chancellor of the Exchequer for one month in 1834. Under the British system, the government is required by convention and for practical reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons, it requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply and to pass primary legislation. By convention, if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held; the support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital. A government is not required to resign if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House; the House of Commons is thus the Responsible house. The prime minister is held to account during Prime Minister's Questions which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
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