Sovereignty is used to describe the idea of the power of law making unrestricted by any legal limit, Parliamentary sovereignty is part of the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom. It dictates that Parliament can make or unmake any laws as it is the ultimate legal authority in the UK. Parliament is still sovereign as it can make law on any matter and it has legislative supremacy. However parliamentary sovereignty can be questioned due to the membership of the European Union and the Human Rights Act. Parliament can make laws on any matter due to Dicey in ‘Law of the Constitution (1885).’ He said that ‘in theory Parliament has total power.
According to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament is the only body that can make law for the UK. No other body can overrule or change the laws which Parliament has made. The principle of parliamentary sovereignty however cannot be found in statute law, it is part of another source of the constitution, common law. The reason it is not part of statute law is that Parliament can pass, change, or repeal any law it likes and is not bound by laws of previous Parliaments. Therefore if parliamentary sovereignty was an Act of Parliament it would be possible for Parliament to repeal it and destroy the principle.
Sovereignty is in essence ultimate and unchallengeable power, the location of sovereignty in the UK in recent years has changed from one single power and devolved into many unions, treaties and nations within the UK and EU. Parliament is the only body that can make law in the UK. No other authority can overrule or change the laws which the parliament has made. This, then gives the statute law more power and priority over the other sources of the constitutions. This then allows the parliament to change or repeal any law it wants and is also not bounded by the laws made by the previous parliaments.
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 imposed limitations on the powers of the House of Lords. Sources of the Constitution If we wanted to describe the UK constitution it would consist of a range of different sources. Statute law: some are of central significance, see below Common law e.g. Entick v Carrington
This power is not written down in the U.S. Constitution, but it has become a recognized power through tradition in the U.S. Although states like the U.S., Canada and Germany have there constitutions written down in a central document, there are other states, such as Great Brittan, who do not have one single document outlining the rules to how power is to be distributed. This is known as variations in formality. There are different levels of formality that a state can chose to write its constitution with. In the case of great Brittan, the rules of politics are embodied in a variety of documents, traditions, and accepted practices.
Evaluate the impact of European law on English law This essay will outline and discuss the impact of the European Union has over the English law and the decisions made. Parliamentary Sovereignty is what makes parliament the high supreme authority regarding legal issues in the UK and can also create or take away any given law. Parliamentary sovereignty is ultimately the most vital part of the UK constitution; the UK constitution is referred to as being partly written down due to it not really existing in a single test. Parliament over the years have passed laws to limit the application of Parliamentary Sovereignty, these laws include: The human rights act 1998 The UK’s entry to the European Union in 1972 The devolution of power to bodies like the Scottish parliament and welsh assembly The decision to establish the supreme court in 2009, which ultimately put an end to the House of Lords being the final court of appeal. Parliament can still undermine any of the laws which implement these changes, therefore these developments do not fully undermine parliamentary sovereignty.
Most of the UK’s legislation originates from the government. It is presented to parliament in the form of a draft Bill. The Bill must pass through a number of stages. Amendments can be made to a Bill or it can be rejected by the Commons. MP’s are given the opportunity to debate a Bill before a vote.
This process transferred varying levels of power from the UK Parliament to the UK's nations but kept authority over the devolved institutions in the UK Parliament. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all held successful referendums on devolution in the late 1990s. This led to the establishment of separate Parliaments or Assemblies and the democratic election of officials. Devolved powers are decisions that Parliament used to control, but are now taken by the separate bodies, E.G. the Scottish Parliament.
To what extent does parliament control executive power? (40 marks) A parliament is a body that has several roles, including legitimising legislation, passing laws, scrutinising or amending legislation, calling government to account and representing voters. Emphasis is placed that the government branch in the UK (the government) normally dominates the parliament due to various reasons such as high majorities, MPs loyalty to the party manifesto, influence of PM on MPs, existence of party whips and the limitations of the House of Lords. However, some may argue that the government does not have it all its own way as parliament can control the government in a number of ways including, dismissing large majoritarian governments, sovereignty of the parliament, public accountability, barriers set by select committees and the House of Lords. Parliament may face difficulties in controlling executive power as the government usually has an overall majority.
Western democracy: history, features, present condition and perspectives. Democracy can be defined as "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections". In Western Europe, democratic governments emerged as power was transferred from monarchs to elected assemblies. These monarchs, though eventually stripped of all real political power, were often retained as symbolic leaders; a democracy with a symbolic monarch (e.g. Britain, Netherlands) is known as a constitutional monarchy.