In 1698, King James I of England published a book concerning his rule as an absolutist monarch called, True Law of Free Monarchies. In this book, King James I justifies his actions as an absolutist leader and reasserts his role in the government as an all powerful center of authority. James I explains how parliament is simply the bridge between the king and his vassals. He states all noteworthy acts are done through the king who passes laws and regulations of the people's request. His final words were, every action is done through the king because he is all powerful and above the law, but as a leader, continues to care for his people.…
Parliament is the supreme law making body consisting of all elected members of both houses. Its main role is to make laws, laws that not only protect society and individual rights but reflect the societies values. Parliament can be viewed as an arena for debate where new ideas for laws and proposed laws are discussed and debated on their purpose for an effective law to be delivered. Thus lessening the chance of an unjust law being created. However, parliament is not always effective when making laws as many factors can hinder the process of legislation within the two houses. However there are multiple strengths that far outweigh the weaknesses when determining parliament’s effectiveness.…
In this essay, I will be analysing the strengths of the British constitution and comparing it to a codified constitution, I will also discuss its weaknesses and whether ‘extremely strong’ is an exaggeration and it lacks the qualities of a reliable constitution.…
(1) Parliament can pass whatever legislation it likes, thus it can introduce or repeal any law as it sees fit…
There is an element of truth in the given statement and this essay will seek to explain UK’s Parliament today does, to a certain degree, lack democratic accountability, and this can be shown in dominance of the (i) Executive, (ii) Unrepresentative, and its (iii) Detachment from citizens.…
Re: Authority of Parliament in relation to the Upper House, [1980] 1 SCR 54, 1979…
It is important to understand the structure of the parliamentary system within which the machinery of government operates. Parliament is known as a bi-cameral legislature where by decision making autonomy resides with the lower house. The House of Commons and the House of Lords exists as a check upon the powers exerted by respective governments thou right it’s debating and ratification functions. In theory, the bi-cameral legislature in British political system exists to ensure that policy and legislation is created democratically and secondly to protect the country from autocracy or the emergence of dictatorships. Although it could be argued that both of these functions of parliament have been apparent in recent history. In this essay I aim to answer the question to what extent is parliament an effective constraint on the executive.…
The Magna Carta set limits on the power of the King, but did not disrupt the balance of power between the beholder of the high positions in Britian. The English monarchs enjoyed almost full power through the 18th century; Henry VII and Elizabeth are examples. They answered to Parliament sometimes, but mostly the Parliament answered to them since they held more power. It wasn't until the 19th century that the things began to change and form a new leadership that we later changed into what we have today. One example I would like to refer to is the reign of Elizabeth II. Her reign has been considered an un-necessary reign in England’s history. Although Royal Prerogatives still exist in Britain, many doubt that they will be employed.…
The clash between the two political models of absolutism and constitutionalism is the catalyst for the progression in English politics. With William and Mary as their rulers, the Parliament didn’t need to worry about a Catholic ruler and even better they were able to get their rulers to recognize the Bill of Rights of 1689. Finally able to limit the power of the monarch, making the ruler subject to the law and the consent of Parliament, the theory of a constitutional monarchy was put into action through this bill. This is the beginning of England’s, later Great Britain, rise to being a world power and setting an example that others will soon…
Parliament is the supreme law-making body in the UK. This means that there are no constitutional restrains on legislative powers. This also includes the fact that courts are under an obligation to give effect to legislation passed by Parliament and not question statutes. Most importantly, Parliamentary Sovereignty is not a constitutional relic. This is simply because UK courts cannot strike down Act of Parliament. First assertion of Dicey is that Parliament’s legislative competence is unlimited. This was shown in Mortensen v Peters (1906). In this case, it was held that parliament is supreme over international law and UK courts felt bound to apply the UK Act, even though it was in contravention of international law. Another case that illustrates…
Parliaments primary role is to make laws on behalf of the community as the need arises. Parliament can also change the law as the need arises. Eg//cloning. As parliament only sits for a small portion of the year they cannot always change the law as the need arises. They also may not be able to foresee all future circumstances and laws may become outdated. Sometimes to help with this problem parliament makes laws in futuro, meaning that laws are made for the future with the future in mind for as far as possible. Although rare, parliament can make retrospective laws, which makes something that was legal at that particular time illegal. This is seen as a weakness of parliament as people can been prosecuted for crimes they committed many years ago.…
In the next passage talks about how the legislative power needs to be established and in check. It is the supreme power of the commonwealth and unalterable. There are certain bounds on the legislature. Laws must be unvaried, laws must serve only the public, can’t raise taxes on the property of people without their consent, and can’t…
‘Parliament is the only body which can make laws in the United Kingdom (UK), and is therefore sovereign. No other authority can over-rule or change the laws which parliament has made. Political commentators often say that parliament can do "what the hell it likes" in terms of law making. This by and large means that the government of the day can pass legislation easily through parliament as long it has a strong, supportive majority in the House of Commons.’ So if, for example, Parliament had passed a law stating that all newborn boys had to be killed, or that all dog owners had to keep a cat as well, there might well be an enormous public outcry, but the law would still be valid and the court would, in theory at least, be obliged to uphold them. The reasoning behind this is that the Parliament, unlike the judiciary, is democratically elected, and therefore ought to have the upper hand when making the laws that every citizen has to live by.…
* The key to understanding Parliamentary Sovereignty lies in its acceptance by Judges who uphold Parliament Sovereignty…
In 2004 the case R. (Jackson) v. Attorney General raised important questions of the scope of parliamentary sovereignty. One aspect of the case is that the Attorney General, arguing for the government, accepted that the judges had jurisdiction over a procedural question and through that over the question whether the act was a valid statue. That clearly stands in conflict with the traditional enrolled bill rule which says that the courts cannot examine the procedure in which a piece of legislation has passed. Another important issue of the Jackson case is that even though the judges held that the Hunting Act was an Act of Parliament they did not hold that it was an Act of the sovereign Parliament. The reasoning behind that is that the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 enabled the House of Commons and the Crown to enact laws as primary legislation but they at the same expressly conferred limitations (particularly the exclusion of the right to prolong the lifetime of Parliament). Thus the Parliament, consisting of the House of Commons and the Crown has not ‘the right to make or unmake…