In the History of British Political System, Mr. Yan pointed out that the change of British political system was slow and slight from the "glorious revolution" in 1688 to the first parliamentary reform in 1930s in 19. The most prominent thing is that the parliamentary election system originated in the Middle Ages, because of the rapid population growth and changes in industrial layout caused by the industrial revolution, has not been impacted, but has become more corrupt. Because of this, this backward and outdated political system for nearly a century and a half was called "unreformed system" by later British scholars. After 1832, the situation is different. The parliamentary system has undergone many reforms, and the responsibility cabinet system has been established rapidly. The Tories and Whigs, two old political parties, evolved into the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, and their activities shifted from parliament to the whole country, thus establishing a relatively strict national political organization. With the emergence of new bourgeois political parties and the improvement of the level of political party organizations, the bourgeois two-party system has rapidly formed. Political parties have become an extremely important part of the country's political life, the cabinet has become the core of the country's administrative power, and the monarch has become a political idol in name only. In addition, with the expansion of political reform, the world's first permanent civil service system was established in Britain. 1832 after the parliamentary reform, other major reforms such as the judicial system and local government were carried out. Various changes in the political system have brought the country into a reform era that lasted for more than half a century. ②

In his General Introduction to American History, Mr. He Shunguo pointed out that the period from 65438+ 1990 to World War I was called the "reform era" in American history. The 1990s was a watershed in American history. On the other side of this watershed, mainly agricultural countries and lax societies follow the political, economic and moral principles inherited from 17 and 18 centuries; On the other side of the watershed is an urbanized industrialized country and a highly integrated country. ③ The reform that started at 1890 includes political, economic and social aspects. The political content mainly includes the reform of municipal management system (replacing the mayor-municipal association system with municipal committee and city manager system), the reform of state administration (implementing the right of direct election and creation, reconsideration and recall at the state level), and recognizing women's right to vote. The main content of economy is to formulate anti-monopoly law. The social content is mainly to ease labor relations and explore the establishment of a social relief system.

/kloc-the above-mentioned reforms in Britain and the United States in the 0 th and 9 th centuries were rooted in the needs of the two countries after completing their industrialization tasks. The industrial revolution took place in Britain in the first half of the18th century. Conservative politics and rapid economic development were the characteristics of the British industrial revolution in the18th century. During this period, the political and legal systems have not changed. /kloc-after the completion of the industrial revolution in the 0/9th century, the reform era of consolidating the achievements of modernization and building a modern rule of law came, which was mainly promoted by the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat born in the industrial revolution. Why did the United States enter the reform era on 1890? Because the proportion of industrial output value to GDP in the United States has gone from 37. 2% in 1859 to 77. 1889. 5%, basically realizing industrialization. At the same time, the position of American industrial output value in the world has also risen from the fourth place in 1860 to the first place in 1894. With the completion of industrialization, the era of building a modern rule of law will naturally follow, and it is mainly the industrial bourgeoisie that promotes this reform.

Voting rights have changed from inequality to equality.

The concept of equality in modern Britain and America was gradually popularized in practice, that is, the equality of some people was realized first, then extended to some people, and gradually extrapolated.

Although as early as 1774, the first American constitutional document, the Declaration of Independence, declared that "all men are created equal", it was not until 1865, nearly a hundred years later, that the US Congress passed the amendment to Article 13 of the Constitution and formally abolished slavery. 1866, the us congress passed the amendment 14, which stipulated that blacks enjoyed civil rights. No one shall be deprived of life, freedom or property without due process of law; It is stipulated that the black population is no longer calculated by three fifths (except Indians who do not pay taxes). It was not until 1869 that the US Congress passed the constitutional amendment of 15, stipulating that citizens should not be deprived of the right to vote because of their race, color or having been slaves.

In Britain, from the18th century to the early19th century, there were three major drawbacks in the British parliamentary election system. First, the allocation of seats is unreasonable. The division of constituencies is still based on the administrative division of electoral seats in the Middle Ages. Second, the qualification of voters is stipulated in the status clause, which leads to a small number of citizens who have the right to vote. Third, bribery is prevalent. Almost every member of parliament is paid off, and when he enters the parliament, he will inevitably expect the government to pay off them. The government also controls the majority of seats in parliament by conferring titles on officials and bribing parliamentarians. After the "Glorious Revolution" and before the 1832 reform, the British state machine was called "the corrupt old system" in history. (4) It was not until 1832 that the law to reform the parliament was passed by the parliament and signed by the king after fierce competition between the industrial bourgeoisie and the nobility. This law has revised the qualification regulations of voters, making the right to vote change from status qualification to property qualification. Voters increased from about 2% to 3. 3%, 143 seats were redistributed. However, this reform has turned the original identity discrimination into property discrimination, and proletarians and women still have no right to vote. From 65438 to 0867, Britain carried out the second parliamentary reform, which expanded the number of voters by reducing property restrictions. In cities and towns, people who pay poverty alleviation taxes and own houses can become voters; Strangers can only stand for election if their annual rent reaches 10. In rural areas, people who own property with an annual value of 5 pounds or rent real estate with an annual value of 12 pounds have the right to vote. From 1884 to 1885, Britain carried out the third parliamentary reform, which stipulated the universal suffrage for adult men.

(3) Marriage has changed from not being free to being free.

In the process of legal modernization, the modernization process of marriage and family law is the slowest compared with other departmental laws, and the deep-rooted backward concept is the main reason that hinders the modernization of marriage and family law, which is recognized by scholars of law and history.

In terms of marriage, the British 1836 Marriage Law only stipulates that marriages registered in government agencies are valid and protected in view of the constraints of religion on marriage in the past. Only the Marriage Law of 1898 stipulates that marriage does not require religious ceremonies. As for divorce, before 1857, the law stipulated that divorce was allowed only after the other party committed adultery and the church court decided to separate. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for the divorce request put forward by the parties (especially the woman) to be supported by the court. It was not until 1857 that Britain passed the Marriage Cases Act, which relaxed the conditions for divorce, stipulating that as long as one spouse commits adultery, the innocent spouse can apply for divorce without proving that adultery constitutes bigamy or maltreatment of the other spouse. True freedom of divorce was not realized until the 20th century.

In the United States, in the first half of the19th century, most states implemented a legislative divorce system that restricted divorce or was not conducive to divorce. The specific procedure is: first, the court will review and make a divorce judgment, and then submit it to the legislature for deliberation. If you get more votes in favor, you can decide to divorce. It was not until the second half of19th century that the states began to abolish legislative divorce, and 1880 disappeared completely. As long as the judge thinks that divorce is reasonable and appropriate, he can judge divorce.

(4) The punishment changed from barbarism to civilization.

The types and methods of punishment are the result of thousands of years of historical evolution. The development of productive forces and the improvement of people's status can cause people to change their understanding of crime, but the change of punishment method often lags behind the change of criminal concept. It is probably directly related to the stubbornness of people's revenge mentality of "tit for tat".

Karen Farrington, a British scholar, pointed out in her book History of Punishment: American punishment originated in Britain, but it is cooler than Britain, creating some unique and harsh punishment methods. One is cruel flogging; Second, some new instruments of torture were invented; The third is to punish prisoners according to the methods described in the Bible. For example, let criminals kneel on a broken and sharp stone and beg for forgiveness. Before sentencing, put the prisoner in a single room where he can't stand or lie down. ⑤ Corporal punishment in the United States was abolished in most states in the19th century, but it still exists in several southern states. /kloc-In the 20th century, the secret terrorist organization Klan was established in southern states headed by Tennessee, which used the judicial practice in American criminal law-lynching to harm blacks.

In Britain, it was not until 1820 that dismemberment of treason was changed to hanging, and corporal punishment of women was abolished. 1867: The penal servitude was abolished and replaced by imprisonment, and the conditional early release of prisoners who were resettled in overseas colonies was the beginning of the "parole" system. 1877 The Crime Prevention Act established the probation system in Britain.

(5) The labor law to protect the interests of workers is from scratch.

From the second half of the18th century to the first half of the19th century, Britain and the United States concentrated on the industrial revolution and completed the task of industrialization, paying attention to fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of employers to create wealth, reducing the cost of employers to create wealth, regardless of the interests of workers. After the completion of the industrial revolution and industrialization, Britain and the United States began to gradually balance the interests of both employers and employees and ease the contradictions between them.

1. The employer's responsibility system for employees' work-related injuries is gradually established.

In the United States, in the face of a large number of personal safety accidents in the process of industrialization, in order to realize the development of production, American legislators have established a set of responsibility system that encourages employers to try out peer faults, and is willing to take risks, common faults and proximate causes. This system of protecting employers' rights and suppressing workers' rights is naturally resisted by the working class. The rulers felt it necessary to ease the contradiction between labor and capital, so they made some legislative reforms at the end of 19. 1893, the national assembly passed the reform bill to ensure the safety of interstate railways, abolished the responsibility system of taking risks on its own initiative, and stipulated that as long as the defendant failed to fulfill his legal safety obligations, he was considered to have a "legal fault" and should bear the responsibility. 65438+ In the 1950s, Georgia stipulated that as long as railway workers were not at fault, they had the right to claim compensation from their employers if they were damaged due to the fault of their peers.

The British labor law stipulates three basic reasons for employers to exempt employees from tort liability: comparative negligence, voluntary commitment and workers' negligence. This is called the "devil trilogy" type of three excuses, which makes the victims of industrial accidents unable to get the compensation they deserve and intensifies the contradiction between labor and capital. It was not until the end of 19 that the British Parliament introduced the principle of strict liability to the handling of industrial accidents under pressure. 1897 The Law on Compensation for Work-related Injuries enacted by Parliament extends the principle of strict liability, which was originally only applicable to mining, construction and railway transportation, to all industrial production departments.

2. Workers' rights of association and strike have been gradually established.

In Britain, from 65438 to 0799, the king promulgated the Law on Prohibition of Association, which prohibited all workers' organizations, including trade unions. 1824, the law was abolished, and workers gained the right of association and strike. However, in 1825, the old trick was repeated, and a new law was enacted, which only recognized that workers' trade unions purely for economic benefits were legal, and all attempts to interfere with employers' production, operation and employment were criminal acts of "restricting business" and would be punished by imprisonment. 187 1 promulgated the trade union law, abolished the so-called "business restrictions" and legalized trade unions in civil and criminal affairs. However, the amendments to the criminal law made at the same time hold that it is illegal to coerce others, prevent others from working, set up picket lines and so on, and can be dealt with according to the criminal law. This makes it almost impossible for the union to strike. It was not until 1875 that the Law on the Protection of Plots and Property abolished the amendment to the criminal law and stipulated that picketing in strikes was legal.

The situation in America is not as good as that in Britain. During the application of the Sherman Law, which stipulated anti-monopoly in the federal system of 1890, the court argued that trade unions were also monopolistic joint organizations, and used this law to wantonly destroy trade union organizations and persecute trade union members until the end of 19.

Legislation restricting the use of child labor and limiting working hours has been gradually advanced.

1By the end of the 8th century, the working hours of British workers were as long as16-18 hours. 1802, the British Parliament passed the Apprenticeship Health and Ethics Act, which stipulated that apprentices under 18 in textile mills should not work more than 12 hours a day, and it was forbidden for apprentices to work at night between 9 pm and 5 pm the next day. This law is only applicable to cotton textile mills and wool textile mills. 18 19 The revised Factory Law has added provisions prohibiting the employment of children under the age of 9. 1833 The revised Factory Law reduced the working hours of child workers from 12 hours to 9 hours. 1844 The revised Factory Law changed the working hours of female employees to 9 hours. ⑥

The legislation of protecting workers' interests in the United States is backward compared with that in Britain. Until 65438+60s, American labor relations were mainly regulated by contract law rather than special labor law. Capitalists conclude harsh labor contracts by virtue of their capital strength, while laborers are in a situation of "either concluding contracts according to conditions or" getting out ". The national legislation to limit working hours and use child labor has not been around for a long time, but only a few states have enacted laws to limit working hours of child labor. For example, Massachusetts passed the first child labor law in 1842, stipulating that children under 12 in manufacturing industry are only allowed to work 10 hour a day. Other States, such as Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc., have also enacted similar laws, but the legislation of these States has been ruled by the court as violating the state constitution and therefore invalid. It was not until 1868 that the first federal labor law appeared, stipulating that federal employees (government printers, postal workers, naval shipyard workers) should limit their working hours. ⑦ The 8-hour working system strongly demanded by the American working class through bloodshed and sacrifice was not realized in the19th century.

4. Legislation on labor safety and health has grown from scratch.

/kloc-In the first half of the 9th century, the British government and capitalists did not pay attention to workers' labor hygiene and safety, which led to serious damage to workers' health caused by dust, noise and waste gas, and the incidence of occupational diseases such as tuberculosis was high. It was not until 1864 that Britain added several labor protection measures to the factory law, such as "painting the walls", paying attention to keeping the air open and preventing underground gas, and the average working space of each factory in the textile industry should be above 500 cubic meters.

/kloc-there was no national labor safety and health law in the United States in the 0 th and 9 th centuries. 1888, Massachusetts stipulated the casualty reporting system, followed by similar laws in Ohio and Missouri.

5. The labor dispute settlement system has been gradually established.

On 1849, Britain conducted a pilot of mediation and arbitration in Manchester, but the pilot was unsuccessful due to the opposition of management. Until 1896, the Mediation Law was promulgated, which stipulated the power of the government to deal with labor disputes. It was not until the end of 19 that the United States promulgated two federal laws to deal with labor disputes. The law of 1888 stipulates voluntary arbitration, emphasizing three procedures: investigation and publication of the award, but it has not achieved great results after ten years of implementation. Therefore, 1898 enacted the edman act, which stipulated the powers and procedures of federal government agencies, labor committees, arbitration committees and courts in handling labor disputes.

(6) The compulsory education system is gradually established.

With the completion of the task of industrialization, the economic strength of Britain and the United States has been greatly enhanced, and industrialization has also put forward the requirement of cultivating high-quality labor force. Therefore, both governments began to attach importance to education. The British government inquired about education earlier than the general European and American countries. 1833, the government began to subsidize educational activities. 1839, the Privy Council set up an education committee to examine and award scholarships and consider educational affairs. At this time, the distribution of education grants is not handled by the government, but by the Christian Knowledge Promotion Association and the Church of England. However, these institutions only take care of large-scale schools in big cities with good conditions, and exclude small schools located in economically difficult towns, resulting in unequal treatment and unbalanced development. Until the end of 1960s, nearly half of school-age children could not go to school. 1870, Britain promulgated the Primary Education Act, which stipulated that local governments should set up school boards to be responsible for the preparation and management of public schools. The funds of public schools are shared by the state, local governments and parents, and all localities can stipulate that children aged 5 to 13 must attend school according to the situation. /kloc-In the middle of the 0/9th century, British women could go to primary schools, but it was not until the end of the 0/9th century that the doors of middle schools and colleges were opened to them.

In the United States, the compulsory education system for primary schools was gradually established in various states at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. Before the Civil War, only Massachusetts (1852) and New York (1853) made compulsory education laws. From 1865 to 19 18, every state has enacted a compulsory education law. ?