Parliamentary Sovereignty is a major principle of the UK constitution. This means that parliament is the supreme legal authority and has the power to both make and break laws. Generally speaking no court, including the highest court in the land- the Supreme Court, has the power to overrule its legislation. Instead, it is the job of the Supreme Court to interpret and develop the law where necessary. This provides proof that the UK courts are subordinate to parliament.
Dicey remained to put forward the most highlighted views on this theory stating; “The principle of Parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely, that Parliament thus defined has, under the English constitution, the right to make or unmake any law whatever; no parliament may be bound by a predecessor or bind its successor and further, that no person or body is recognized by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of
Constitutions control and distribute state power, setting out principles in order to maintain a stable relationship between the state and the state’s citizens. It is clear that the UK constitution is un-codified as well as unwritten to a high extent, and is constructed from several sources. Common laws are preceded by judges in relation to previous cases. European law also affects all members of the European Union state due to the European Act 1972. Statutes are approved by the parliament being the most important form of laws.
Internal sovereignty may be described as the competence and authority to exercise the function of a state within national borders and to regulate internal affairs freely. Internal sovereignty thus comprises of the whole body of rights and attributes that a state possesses in its territory. External sovereignty is generally comprehended as legal independence from all foreign powers, and as impermeability, thus protecting the state 's territory against all outside interference. The idea of external sovereignty eventually led to the development of modern international law. Every independent state reserves the authority to renounce trade treaties and to enter into military agreements.
Dicey reduced the issue of parliamentary sovereignty to three primary principles , each of which demonstrate the potential for constitutional crisis and instability in the United Kingdom. The first principle states that ‘Parliament is the supreme law making body and may enact any laws on any subject matter’. In theory, this means that there are no substantive legal limits regarding what Parliament may or may not legislate about, with only democracy acting as a foil for this power, effectively enabling Parliament to create any law no matter how absurd, impractical or unjust. As Sir Leslie Stephen said , ‘If a legislature decided that all blue-eyed babies should be murdered, the preservation of blue-eyed babies would be
Parliamentary sovereignty, the philosophy of the Parliament being the supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or abolish any law, is commonly considered to be the defining principle of the British ‘Constitution’. Other core principles of the British Constitution are often believed to incorporate the rule of law, the separation of government, and the existence of a unitary state, meaning ultimate power is held by ‘the center’ – the sovereign Westminster Parliament. However, some of these principles are to an extent fictional. The separation of powers is not fully distinguished between all three branches, and the Parliamentary sovereignty may have been challenged given the joint impact of the European Union, devolution, the Courts, and human
The Act aims to provide the care and respect every person entitled to irrespective of their age, gender, literacy, race, colour, sexuality, etc. Requiring public authorities to be certain that their judgements and activities do not violate rights of humans under any circumstances to a great extent lessened the need to go to the court to get protection. The Human Rights Act bought rights home which contributed towards making the UK better without a costly court process. As part of the legislation all citizens are entitled to benefit from this irrespective of how small or big of a case it may possibly
According to it, sovereignty never was and isn't reflection of the boundless power to do everything that directly prohibited by international law" (Pellet, 2009). Such perception of the state sovereignty inevitably conducts a reconsideration of its essence, formation of new approach according to which it serves interests of the people, not just the states. Moreover, in such a new position the sovereignty is not simply the instrument of prevention of the international conflicts, but also suppression of internal human rights violations. This new perception reflects objective reality of a modern world order, changing thus idea of the sovereignty in the form in which today it serves for creation of the relations between the states, keeping still strong traditions of the Westphalian
The United Kingdom’s constitution, because it is unwritten, relies mainly on two constitutional principles: parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. There is however what appears to be a “tension” between those two. On the one hand, orthodox legal theory has always said that courts in the United Kingdom are subordinate to the Parliament, which is said to be sovereign. As illustrated by Dicey’s quote, “Parliament has, under the English constitution, the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and, further, no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament” . As a consequence, courts have no power whatsoever to review and declare statutes passed by the Parliament invalid.
The people elect representatives to represent their opinions in the parliament. It serves for the common good of the people and have certain equality among the members. The parliament is always there to set laws according to the situations. Most importantly, republics recognize the rights of an individual in the law, rather than the majority. Both legislative houses are kept equal according the constitution.