PARLIAMENT SOVEREIGNTY IN UNITED KINGDOM

Parliament Sovereignty in United Kingdom



Parliament Sovereignty in United Kingdom

Introduction

In the UK, Parliament is the supreme legal authority, according to the concept of parliamentary sovereignty. In many countries, like United States, the Constitution limits the legislature the laws it can or cannot make. Laws passed by the legislature can be declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court of United States and thus void. In the UK, the traditional view is that Parliament is not cause to experience any legal restraint and that the laws duly passed by Parliament can not be declared invalid by the UK courts as the courts have no power.

The Law of Constitution, proposed by A.V. Dicey, in 1885 entails that parliament is sovereign. It has, in theory, total power. Parliamentary sovereignty, in perspective of Dicey consisted of four major factors: on any subject, Parliament is capable to pass laws, activities of anyone can be regulated by laws of parliament anywhere, and successors can not be bind by Parliament as to the content, approach and type of ensuing legislation, the courts cannot challenged the laws passed by the Parliament. In fact, Parliament may though bind its own sovereignty For instance, the European Communities Act 1972 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Parliament's power to legislate unhindered is limited by the fact that: (1) Parliament is controlled by a Government with an overall Commons majority; (2) there is considerable overlap between the Legislative and Executive; and (3) EU Law is increasingly becoming part of domestic law. The aim of this paper is critical evaluation of Dicey's theory of Parliamentary sovereignty in the context of the UK constitutional framework in the light of the aforementioned points.



Discussion & Analysis

Background

In United Kingdom, Parliamentary sovereignty is a fundamental principle of constitution. The supreme legal authority is Parliament that has the supremacy to make or unmake any law. In general, legislation of Parliament cannot be overruled by courts and a law can be passed by any Parliament that a later Parliament cannot modify. Parliament, in the British constitution, is determined as the sovereign law maker. In the UK, from two major sources, the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty can be drawn, first one is the last civil war of the late seventeenth century and another one is the legal theory of AV Dicey- an Oxford law professor of nineteenth century.

Nevertheless, the principle of parliamentary sovereignty has been changed and restricted by the decision of UK in 1973, to get a membership of the European Community, when the European Communities Act 1972 enacted. Legislation must now be done by Parliament constantly with European Community law. The conditions of the European treaties as construed by the European law court entail limitation of sovereignty by member states, by Parliament handing direct effect and dominance to European law.

The European Community law as stated by the European law court should be enforced in the courts of the member states and that domestic law of the member state is prevailed by European law, which includes ...