Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). At its head is the Sovereign; it is bicameral, including an Upper House, called the House of Lords, and a Lower House, called the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members—the Lords Spiritual (the senior clergy of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage); it is a wholly unelected body. The House of Commons, on the other hand, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the British capital, London (more precisely, in the borough known as the City of Westminster). By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister are drawn exclusively from the House of Commons or House of Lords.

Sovereignty

Several different views have been taken of Parliament's sovereignty. According to the jurist Sir William Blackstone, "It has sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal … It can, in short, do every thing that is not naturally impossible."

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A different view, however, has been taken by the Scottish judge Lord Cooper of Culross. When he decided the case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate as Lord President of the Court of Session, he stated, "the principle of unlimited sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle and has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law." He continued, "Considering that the Union legislation extinguished the Parliaments of Scotland and England and replaced them by a new Parliament, I have difficulty in seeing why the new Parliament of Great Britain must inherit all the peculiar characteristics of the English Parliament but none of the Scottish." Nevertheless, he did not give a conclusive opinion on the subject. Thus, the question of Parliamentary sovereignty appears to remain unresolved. Parliament has not passed any Act defining its own sovereignty.

Related Topics:
Lord Cooper of Culross - MacCormick v. Lord Advocate - Lord President of the Court of Session - Union legislation

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Parliament's power has often been eroded by its own Acts. Acts passed in 1921 and 1925 grant the Church of Scotland complete independence in ecclesiastical matters. More recently, its power has been restricted by the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, which has the power to make laws enforceable in each member state. In the Factortame case, the European Court of Justice ruled that UK courts could have powers to overturn legislation contravening EU law. This new power is a breach of parliamentary sovereignty, which is part of the UK constitution. Parliament has also created national devolved assemblies with legislative authority in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, Parliament still has the power over areas for which responsibility lies with the devolved institutions, but would usually ask permission of those institutions to act on its behalf. Similarly, it has granted the power to make regulations to Ministers of the Crown, and the power to enact religious legislation to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Measures of the General Synod and, in some cases, proposed statutory instruments made by ministers must be approved by both Houses before they become law.) In every case aforementioned, however, authority has been conceded by Act of Parliament, and may be taken back in the same manner. It is entirely within the authority of Parliament to, for example, abolish the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland or to leave the EU. However, especially in the case of withdrawing from EU membership, the political costs (the UK's economy and reputation in Europe would most likely be hugely damaged) of such a move would surely prevent it from occurring. Legally, Parliament's sovereignty has not been curtailed; however, in a political sense, its own Acts have reduced Parliament?s sovereignty, especially the European Communities Act 1972 (UK), which made the UK a member of the EU.

Related Topics:
1921 - 1925 - European Union - Factortame case - European Court of Justice - Parliamentary sovereignty - UK constitution - Scotland - Wales - Northern Ireland - General Synod - Statutory instrument - European Communities Act 1972 (UK)

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One well-recognised exception to Parliament's power involves binding future Parliaments. No Act of Parliament may be made secure from amendment or repeal by a future Parliament. For example, although the Act of Union 1800 states that the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland are to be united "forever," Parliament permitted Southern Ireland to separate into a distinct nation, the Irish Free State, in 1922.

Related Topics:
Act of Union 1800 - Irish Free State - 1922

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