OTHER=Parliamentary Supremacy Flashcards
What is Parliamentary Sovereignty?
- Principle of Uk constitution
- Parliament= the supreme legal authority in the UK
- The courts cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments can’t change
- Parliament can legislate on any subject matter
What are the limitations of parliamentary supremacy?
- Legislating on any subject matter
- Cannot bind successor
- Cannot be overruled by others
What did Dicey’s view of parliamentary sovereignty consist of?
4 principles;
1) Parliament is can pass laws on any subject
2) Parliament’s laws can regulate the activities of anyone, anywhere
3) Parliament cannot bind its successors as to the content, manner and form of subsequent legislation
4) Laws passed by Parliament cannot be challenged by the courts.
What are some of the laws Parliament has passed that limits the application of parliamentary sovereignty?
- Devolution of power
- Human rights Act 1998
- Uk’s entry to the EU in 1973
- decision to establish the UK Supreme Court in 2009
What does the limitation of no limit of subject matter mean and an example?
- shows the extent of the legislative power
- Act of Settlement, 1700 (James II’s children could not succeed to the throne) and Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
- Sir Ivor Jennings= parliament can legislate to ban smoking on the streets of Paris
What does the limitation cannot bind their successor mean and an example?
- each new parliament is free to make or change any laws and can repeal any previous acts
- except laws that are now important in are constitution
- eg, Statute of Westminster (no longer make laws for Dominion countries)
What does the limitation cannot be overruled by anyone else mean and an example?
- Courts can’t see why an act was made or disregard the legal principles
- In R v Jordan and Tyndall it was held that the courts had no power to question the validity of an Act of Parliament
