Parliamentary Sovereignty

Question 1

A V Dicey came up with three rules to delineate Parliament’s sovereignty extends. What are they?

Answer 1

1. Parliament is the supreme law-making body
2. Parliament is not bound by predecessors and may not bind successors
3. No one may question the validity of Parliament’s decisions

Question 2

What three sub-rules make up Parliament’s power as the supreme law-making body?

Answer 2

1. No substantive limits
2. No temporal limits
3. No geographic limits

Question 3

In which case did Lord Hoffman state that Parliament could, if it wanted, legislate against human rights?

Answer 3

R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Simms

Question 4

What happened in Mortenson v Peters? What does it illustrate about the limitations of Parliamentary sovereignty?

Answer 4

The captain of a Norwegian trawler was convicted for fishing in Scottish waters. The HL felt bound to convict even where the Herring Fishing (Scotland) Act 1889 clearly extended beyond the internationally recognised three-mile territorial limit.

Question 5

Which case demonstrates there is no temporal limit to Parliament’ Acts? What happened in this case?

Answer 5

Burmah Oil v Lord Advocate - Parliament enacted the War Damages Act 1965 which prevented the UK paying compensation for any damage done in World War II.

Question 6

What two forms of repeal are there? How does each work?

Answer 6

1. Express - where an Act explicitly repeals or amends an earlier piece of legislation
2. Implicit - where an Act doesn’t refer to an earlier piece of legislation but has the effect of repealing it either in part or in whole depending on how inconsistent the two provisions are with eachother.

Question 7

Which two cases demonstrate implied repeal?

Answer 7

1. Vauxhall Estates v Liverpool Corporation

2. Ellen Street Estates v Minister of Health

Question 8

What was the situation in both Vauxhall Estates and Ellen Street Estates?

Answer 8

The plaintiffs were claiming for compensation for the possession of their homes on the basis of the Acquisition of Land Act 1919 because the compensation was more dangerous but the Housing Act 1925 had to be applied otherwise the 1919 Act would have been entrenched.

Question 9

Which two Acts are arguably entrenched?

Answer 9

1. European Communities Act 1972

2. Human Rights Act 1998

Question 10

There are two theories as to how Parliament may bind itself and its successors. What are they?

Answer 10

1. Substantive binding (by the Acts of Union or Statute of Westminster 1931)
2. Manner and form ie Parliament will be prescribed a manner and form in which they should legislate

Question 11

What are the four main challenges to Parliamentary Sovereignty?

Answer 11

1. Devolution
2. Human Rights Act 1998
3. Membership of the EU
4. Jackson

Question 12

Which case demonstrates that international treaties have no direct effect unless they are passed into English law?

Answer 12

Cheney v Conn