Chapter Five charts the creation of standardized and uniform bureaucracies managing pardons and scaffolds across British India. Unlike in England when the number of hangings declined during this period, the colonial state would continue to hang Indians in high numbers until independence. In a bloody context, I ask when did the state pardon or execute, and how? As the chapter demonstrates, the codification of criminal law did not initially produce clear rules about what rights were owed to the condemned. As I argue, the gradual development of standardized procedures and rules to manage the petition for mercy and the spectacle of the scaffold emerged in response to constant challenges from convicts and their supporters. The decisive turn away from the public scaffold in certain executions evidenced the abject failure of the state to deploy terror and mercy to cultivate fearful and obedient subjects in the age of Indian nationalism.

This chapter provides an account of the role of the Crown and government in the UK constitution. It also explains individual and collective ministerial responsibility.

The chapter analyses the different sources of UK constitutional law: statutes, case law, prerogative powers and constitutional conventions, in addition to rules and practices in the UK Parliament (including standing orders, the Cabinet Manual and the Ministerial Code. It provides a detailed account of constitutional statutes and developing ideas of the common law constitution, in addition to providing an up-to-date account of prerogative powers in the light of the recent Supreme Court case on prorogation.

This chapter provides a detailed account of the powers of the UK Government, both in relation to executive powers and the initiation and control over the enactment of primary legislation. In particular, it provides an up to date account of the impact of the two recent Miller decisions (the Brexit decision and the prorogation decision) , explaining their impact on the control over prerogative powers. It also explains the impact of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 on prerogative powers.