Why is the United Kingdom described as a constitutional monarchy when it has no written constitution?

Magna Carta....was originally created because of disagreements between Pope Innocent III, King John and his English barons about the rights of the King. It required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and others accept that the will of the king could be bound by law.

Technically, the Magna Carta is the equivlent to the constitution. It was writen in 1215 to seperate the powers of the pope and King John, and is still used as a foundation of law to this day.

The Magna Carta is their version. It was forced upon King John in 1215 because of his excesses and cruelty. This gave more power to noblemen and common men, and stopped his abuse of power. He had thought himself above the laws governing his subjects. If you will note, some of our elected officials in the U S seem to have the same attitude.

May be because no one has come up with another word to describe the opposite of absolute monarchy. How do you call a person who gets to spend our tax money and all they have to do for it is to smile at the cameras and travel around the world from one reception to another? Answer - a constitutional monarch - no responsibility no accountability - just free ride for life.

props to my man above who answered this so well