Parliamentary sovereignty

Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. It also holds that the legislative body may change or repeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law (in some cases, not even a constitution) or by precedent. In some countries, parliamentary sovereignty may be contrasted with separation of powers, which limits the legislature's scope often to general law-making and makes it subject to external judicial review, where laws passed by the legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances. However, in such countries the legislative body still retains the sovereignty by the possibility to alter the constitution, which usually requires greater majority, often 2/3 of votes instead of 1/2. Many states have sovereign legislatures, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Jamaica. Under the federal system, neither the states nor the federal parliament in Australia have true parliamentary sovereignty. The Commonwealth Parliament is created by the federal constitution, and only has enumerated powers. Each state's legislative power is inherent but restrained by the federal constitution, the relevant state constitution, and Commonwealth powers. Nevertheless, in the Australian context, 'parliamentary supremacy' is used contextually as a term and has two meanings: one is that parliament (the legislature) can make and unmake any law; another meaning is that as long as a parliament (legislature) has the power to make laws regarding a subject matter, the exercise of that power cannot be challenged or reviewed by the judiciary. The second meaning is more consistent with the federal system and the practice of judicial review, as the judiciary cannot review on the merits of the parliament (legislature)'s exercise of power.

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Related concepts (22)

List of enacting clauses

An enacting clause is a short phrase that introduces the main provisions of a law enacted by a legislature. It is also called enacting formula or enacting words. It usually declares the source from which the law claims to derive its authority. In many countries, an enacting formula is not considered necessary and is simply omitted. The simplest enacting clauses merely cite the legislature by which the law has been adopted; for example the enacting clause used in Australia since 1990 is "The Parliament of Australia enacts".

Act of Parliament (UK)

An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster, London. An Act of Parliament can be enforced in all four of the UK constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). As a result of devolution the majority of acts that are passed by Parliament increasingly only apply either to England and Wales only, or England only. Generally acts only relating to constitutional and reserved matters now apply to the whole of the United Kingdom.

Constitution of the United Kingdom

The constitution of the United Kingdom or British constitution comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, no attempt has been made to codify such arrangements into a single document, thus it is known as an uncodified constitution. This enables the constitution to be easily changed as no provisions are formally entrenched; the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom recognises that there are constitutional principles, including parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, democracy, and upholding international law.