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Parliamentary Sovereignty
" Under the English Constitution the British Parliament with its
legislative authority in the King and the two Houses of Parliament is
supreme and its sovereignty cannot be challenged anywhere. It has
no written Charter to define or limit its power and authority. lts powers
are a result of convention but are now recognized as completely
absolute, uncontrolled and unfettered.
" In the United Kingdom (UK), the parliament includes The Crown, The
House of Lords and the House of Commons.
"Parliamentary sovereignty was aa legal rule that specified the legal
force of the statutes. In other words: Whatever the Queen-in
Parliamnent enacts as a statute is law'.
" This concept entrenched in some parliamentary democracies
symbolizes that the parliament or the legislature 'has absolute
sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions,
including executive or judicialbodies'
· which
Primarily, it makes Parliament thesupreme legal authority in the UK,
can create or endany law.
Parliamentary Sovereignty
This doctrine which in its most basic sense says that 'the courts will give effect to
legislationpassed by the Parliament on any súbject matter, even if itis 'unconstitutionaf,
is not unique to the UK.
It applies in common law based New Zealand which -like the UK- does not have a
formallyentrenched written constitution (though a 75% majority in a referendum is
requiredto certain aspects of the electoral system). It also applies to Finland, Sweden
and the Netherlands
1. Firstly,no institution withinthe Constitution has the capacity to declare that a statute
is beyond the power of Parliament. Once the Court or anyone else operating within
the legal order-has concludedthat a document isa statute, it is obliged to treat that
document as legally binding, unless it has been repealed by later legislation.
2. Secondly. 'hen there is conflict between an older and a newer statute, the resolution
of this conflict must give legalforce to the newer statute-aresolution which may
require a court to find that elements of the earlier statute are impliedly repealed
Parliamentary sovereignty was a legal rule and, like other legal rules, its
interpretationwas a matter for the court.
3. Thirdly,a statute that purported to deny Parliament the power to legislate in a

specified area would be impliedly repealed (or could be expressly repealed) by any
later statute concerningthe same matterOr in the words of Prof. A.V. Dicey, "In
theory Parliament has total power. It is sovereign
Threts contd.
Withering away of Authority of House of Lords
" PS. DISREGARDED (1991] 1AC 603.
R. (Factortame Ltd.) v. Secretary of State for Transport- It has its roots since the time
when UK joined the European Union in 1972 by way of European Communities Act, 1972
the prayer of interim injunction pleaded by the petitioner (Factortame) could not be
granted as no injunctory relief could lay against the Crown
Issues: which law would prevail? whether the national law came will prevail over the EU
law? ECJ, gave the verdict that in case of Conflict between EUCommunity law and the
national law, the community law would prevail
Appeal moved to the House of Lords for their final verdict( in consonance with the
European Communities Act, 1972)
Effect: National Legislation was invalidated
In an indirect gesture, the infamously sovereign Parliament was made subject to the
European Community
SirWiliam Wade. He argued 'that the judges had departed from Parliamentary
sovereignty without enjoying the legal authority to mäke this change'. The rule of
Parliamentary sovereignty could not be changed by Parliament and could not, as
matter of law, be departed from by the court
CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH TO PS. Thoburn v. Sunderland
City Council
An understanding has been reached by the UKCourts that the
legal sovereignty of UK parliament can elegantly reconcile with
that of the pragmatic supremacy of the EU law. EU law takes
priority over an Act of Parliament unless the latter is specifically
contrary to the former which seems 'notional
his view of the UK's ultimate sovereignty was supported by Lord
Justice Laws in the Thoburn v Sunderland City Council case.
when he saidthat "there is nothing in the European
Communities Act which allows the European Court, or any other
institutionof the EU, to touch or qualify the conditions of
Parliament's legislative supremacy in theUnited Kingdom
That being so, the legislative and judicial institutions of the EU
cannot intrude upon those conditions."
The UK Parliament vis-a-isOther
Devolved Bodies
MPs from areas across England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
V.
1. Parliament in Scotland
2. National Assembly in Wales
3. National Assembly in Northern Ireland
Separate elections are held for these devolved political

bodies (which have been granted powers on aregional
level that the UK Parliament was formerly responsible for) .
However, candidates who win seats in these elections do
not become MPs in the UK Parliament.

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Parliamentary Sovereignty

3. Thirdly,a statute that purported to deny Parliament the power to legislate in a

Separate elections are held for these devolved political

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