Some writers classify constitutions on the basis of the form of the executive authority a constituent creates that is, whether it has set up a parliamentary form of government (or executive) or a presidential one.
On this basis, constitutions are referred to as parliamentary and presidential ones. A parliamentary form of government is a system in which the real executive (i.e. Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister) is responsible to the legislature.
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Responsibility implies that the cabinet will remain in office as long as it enjoys the confidence of the legislature or the popular chamber if it is a two-chamber legislature. This type of government is also called a cabinet or responsible or ministerial form of government. Its main features are as follows:
1. Nominal Head:
The States or country having this type of government possesses a titular or a nominal “Head”. He may be an elected President as in India or a hereditary monarch as in Britain.
2. Real Executive:
The real executive authority is exercised by a cabinet (a body of important ministers) headed by the Prime Minister.
3. Responsibility:
The cabinet is responsible to the legislature. The responsibility of the ministers is collective — that is, a vote of no-confidence against one minister is regarded as a vote of no-confidence against the entire cabinet. All ministers sink or swim together.
4. Membership of the Legislature:
Cabinet members as well as other ministers are members of the legislature. They are taken from the party or a coalition of parties having a majority in the legislature. Most of them are taken from the popular chamber. Some may be taken from the upper chamber if the legislature is bicameral.
5. Ascendancy of the Prime Minister:
The Prime Minister is the key-stone of the cabinet arch, being the leader of the majority party he/she is appointed by the Head of State, but other ministers are appointed by the Head of State on the Prime Minister’s advice.
The Prime Minister is the real chief executive or “Head of Government”. He presides over the meetings of the cabinet. He can ask any minister to resign. He can get any minister dismissed by the Head of State. If the Prime Minister resigns, the whole cabinet (as well as other ministers) has to resign. Parliamentary government operates in Britain, India, Australia, Canada and many other countries.