...To what extent is parliament still sovereign? For many years it has been argued that parliamentary sovereignty has, and still is, being eroded. As said by AV Dicey, the word ‘sovereignty’ is used to describe the idea of “the power of law making unrestricted by any legal limit”. Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution, stating that Parliament is the supreme legal authority in the UK, able to create and remove any law. This power over-rules courts and all other jurisdiction. It also cannot be entrenched; this is where all laws passed by the party in government can be changed by future parliaments. In recent years sovereignty of parliament has been a In 1972 the UK joined the treaty of accession, this was a statute law passed by parliament. It stated that the UK was now a part of the EU and therefore must abide by the laws and regulations that would be imposed; over 2,900 regulations and 410 directives were added, 43 volumes of the EU legislation. Due to having joined over 30 years after the initial EU was created, the UK has been made to accept laws that had been made without its input. Whereas now, having joined the EU, we are involved in in their creation - this is a key argument for why we should remain a member. Joining the EU has been agued as being a pinnacle point at which the UK lost its sovereignty, as this was the first time in the history of parliament where absolute power was no longer held. Research done by the TPA (Taxpayers Alliance)...
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...United Kingdom. It dictates that Parliament can make or unmake any laws as it is the ultimate legal authority in the UK. Parliament is still sovereign as it can make law on any matter and it has legislative supremacy. However parliamentary sovereignty can be questioned due to the membership of the European Union and the Human Rights Act. Parliament can make laws on any matter due to Dicey in ‘Law of the Constitution (1885).’ He said that ‘in theory Parliament has total power. It is sovereign'. He states a number of reasons as to how this is possible. Firstly Dicey points out that Parliament can pass laws on any subject without legal restriction therefore it is sovereign. This principle is a result of the election of the Members of Parliament (MPs), by the electorate which gives them authority to represent and pass legislation on their behalf. Parliament being able to make laws on any matter can be traced back to the Bill of Rights 1689 where it was said that the monarch alone could not pass or repeal laws without Parliament's consent. Parliament is also free to modify its own makeup and authority. This is confirmed in the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 which removed the veto powers of the House of Lords and the Life Peerages Act 1958 which apart from giving the Prime Minister flexibility to modify the composition of the House of Lords introduced female peers into the hereditary and male dominated second chamber. Therefore, parliament is still sovereign because it can make or unmake...
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...Parliamentary Sovereignty is the notion that Parliament is the highest power in the land and therefore supreme to even the Royal Prerogative. A.V. Dicey, a jurist professor explained it as: ‘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, and further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.’ Legislative supremacy involves not only the right to change the law but also that no one else should have that right, however, Parliament has, on occasion fettered itself in order to limit its own powers, for example, devolution to Scottish Parliament and Welsh...
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...FOREWORD CHAPTER I page 7 The Terms Used to Define the Commonwealth CHAPTER II page 11 Equality CHAPTER III page18 Autonomy CHAPTER IV page 26 Autochthony CHAPTER V page 37 Membership CHAPTER VI page 42 Co-operation CHAPTER VII page 48 Symbols CHAPTER VIII page 56 Members of the Commonwealth REFERENCES page 61 FOREWORD The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries were formerly part of the British Empire. The member states co-operate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the Singapore Declaration. These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace. The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organization through which countries with diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status. Its activities are carried out through the permanent Commonwealth Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General, and biennial Meetings between Commonwealth Heads of Government. The symbol of their free association is the Head of the Commonwealth, which is a ceremonial position currently held by Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II is also monarch, separately...
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...institutions, the legislature, the executive, judiciary and the nature and the scope of their powers. Moreover, Bradley and Ewing have defined a constitution as ‘ a document having special legal sanctity which sets out the framework and the principle functions of the organs of government within the state and declares the principles by which those organs must operate’. (A Bradley and K Ewing, Constitutional and Administrative Law (14th edn, Pearson/Longman, 2007), p.4) [1]In the introduction of a state’s constitution, there will be a discovery of a preamble, for example, in the USA the preamble states that: ‘We the people...do ordain and establish this Constitution’. (Article 2 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution.)[2] This shows the society as a sovereign power. An important question that often rises is “Should Britain adopts a written constitution”? This has always been the topic of debate and thus very controversial. Many of Britain’s population believe that there is no important reason to form a written constitution when it has been working perfectly fine so far. Some believe that there is no much difference whether the documents are codified or not. The consequences are not huge. As long as the state is in a good shape and has a stable government, many...
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...The Judiciary 2 (a) The rule of law as stated in the source above is “the foundation stone of any healthy democracy”, in this sense for the rule of law to be upheld four principles must be seen. The first is that everyone no matter what position in society is accountable under law. Secondly is that the laws are clear for all and fundamental rights are upheld e.g. the right to reproduce. Thirdly is the process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible and efficient. And finally someone who is impartial and neutral in the decision-making aspect must deliver justice in an acceptable time frame. (b) With reference to the source and your own knowledge, explain how the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed process by. In theory the Judiciary should be independent from the government since it is its own pillar in society. In the coming years the independence of the judiciary has been cemented. This is partly due to the constitutional reform act as shown in the extract, now the Lord Chancellor is guaranteed independence from the Lord chief justice. The Lord Chancellor had to swear an oath to defend the independence of the Judiciary. Another important step to independence of the Judiciary was achieved by the erection of the Supreme Court in 2009, which moved powers further away from the government in the way they could manipulate the courts i.e. The process by which judicial appointments are made is also more independent and distanced from government...
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...How has Coalition Government affected Party Politics in the U.K? The arrival of a coalition government formed between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party in 2010 has affected UK party politics in various ways, the nature of which is looked into below. The governing of a country by a coalition of two political parties with differing political stances will involve negotiation between and some degree of compromise on behalf of the two parties. This is necessary in order to come to some form of agreement on key policies, such as those affecting the economy, unemployment, crime, environmental concerns, welfare, law and order and education, amongst other policy areas. The agreements reached are also, to a certain degree, in a balance of compliance with key political beliefs or philosophies of both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in terms of their respective guiding principles on areas such as social justice, the appropriate degree of state intervention and the importance of equality and availability of opportunity within society. The rise to power of a coalition government has made Consensus politics a key feature of UK party politics, since the nature of a coalition involves broad agreement on most basic policies between the two major political parties forming the coalition; the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The ability and will to negotiate and agree is of key importance if a coalition is to be able to govern effectively, in an organised...
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...Over recent years we have seen more charismatic, ‘presidential’, dominant Prime Ministers; Thatcher and Blair for example. Although, in order to determine the extent that the Prime Minister dominates the political system, we have to look at changes in the role rather than looking at a couple of individuals. An argument that says the Prime Minister dominates the political system is the growth and use of an extensive advisory unit who work exclusively for the Prime Minister. This means the Prime Minister has access to information that his Ministers do not have, and it also means the Prime Minister can essentially overlook the advice of his/her Ministers thus allowing the Prime Minister to dominate cabinet. The Prime Minister, as the chief appointer of the Cabinet, can also effectively remove anyone who does not agree with his/her views. This results in a complete dominance of the executive, which inevitably results in dominance of the UK political system. However, this dominance is a short term consequence of the Prime Minister’s powers. There are only so many Ministers the Prime Minister can remove before his Cabinet loses complete faith in him/her; secondly, by completely dominating policy, Ministers lose any sense of ownership over policy which can cause party factions, or even a vote of no confidence. A Prime Minister’s power is said to be elastic, in that the further the Prime Minister tries to stretch their power, the harder his/her party pulls back. This is something we...
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...To what extent has the location of the sovereignty in the UK has changed? The sovereignty is the supreme and independent power or authority in government as possessed or claimed by a state or community. There are two types of sovereignty, legal and political. Legal sovereignty is the principle that one body has the authority and right to change any law in anyway it wants to, legal sovereignty in the UK has been said to lie in Westminster Parliament. Political sovereignty is where power effectively and actively is used and implemented, in other words who holds political power and who has can influence it. For example, political sovereignty lies with the electorate at election time, but at other times lies with parliament when debating legislation and constitutional statues. Although the UK parliament is a sovereign body, there was devolution to the regions under Blaire, as well as transferring powers to the European Parliament in the Brussels, which firstly happened after Maastrich Treaty in 1992. On the one hand, there was a some transfers of EU, whereby the UK Parliament cannot do anything on certain matters. The UK initially joined the EEC in 1973 since then the EEC has become the EU and has also become increasingly more powerful over the UK as time has passed. It could be argued that the EU is supreme over UK statues and the UK parliament. This is shown in the case whereby the EU allowed Spanish fishing boats to fish in UK waters, because it is EU waters, and every...
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...encyclopedia Westminster system From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It is used, or was once used, in the national legislatures and subnational legislatures of most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth nations upon being granted responsible government, beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890. However some former colonies (e.g. Nigeria) have adopted the presidential system as their form of government. The Houses of Parliament are situated within the Palace of Westminster, in London. Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Operation 3 Role of the head of state 4 Cabinet government 5 Bicameral and unicameral parliaments 6 Criticisms 7 Ceremonies 8 Current countries 9 Former countries 10 See also 11 Notes 12 Bibliography 13 External links Characteristics A Westminster system of government may include some of the following features: a sovereign or head of state who functions as the nominal or legal and constitutional holder of executive power, and holds numerous reserve powers, but whose daily duties mainly consist of performing ceremonial functions. Examples include Queen Elizabeth II, the Governors-General...
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...powerful is the UK Parliament? The Westminster Parliament is the UK’s highest political institution, making decisions on issues important to citizens throughout Britain. The Houses of Commons and Lords are responsible for passing legislation, scrutinising the government and debating issues. Retaining a high level of sovereignty despite devolution, seating dominating majority governments and possessing unprecedented constitutional flexibility, the UK Parliament wields a great deal of power. Political scientist Arend (Lijphart, 1999) first branded democracies as ‘consensual’ or ‘majoritarian.’ The UK parliament is said to be majoritarian, with a strong governing party and Cabinet, a lesser presence of small parties, minimal decentralisation,...
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...parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this: namely that parliament […] has under the English constitution the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having the right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament. […] The principle of parliamentary sovereignty may, looked at from its positive side, be thus described: Any Act of Parliament, or any part of an Act of Parliament, which makes new law, or repeals or modifies an existing law, will be obeyed by the courts. The same principle, looked at from its negative side, may be thus stated: There is no person or body of persons who can, under the English constitution, make rules which override or derogate from an Act of Parliament, or...
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...govern if it retains the confidence of the House of Commons. * It the executive loses the vote of confidence, it has no option but to resign and hence provoking a general elections. * Given that there are two Houses of Parliament, the system is called Bicameral. Composition, Role and Powers of the House of Lords: * It compromises of four types of Lords. * The vast majority is Life Peers, where they have been appointed to the House of Lords by the Prime Minister on his own recommendations and that of other party leaders. * While a smaller number of People’ Peers have been appointed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. * There are 92 Hereditary Peers. * There is Lords Spiritual, the 26 Bishops of the Church of England. * However they are not elected and therefore does not enjoy democratic legitimacy the powers of the Lords are inferior to those of House of Commons. * This means all they can do to proposed legislation that they disapprove of its delay it for one year. * But they cannot do this to the budget. * According to the Salisbury Convention, they will not oppose proposals that were in the manifesto that the governing party was elected upon. * However they play an important role in parliament: The Lords have a wealth of experience the amendments that they suggest to bills can be taken very seriously by the government. Especially because these amendments are generally made without an obvious party political bias. Lords...
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...Constitution What is a constitution? • Set of rules seeking to establishing the duties, powers and functions of the various institutions of government • To regulate the relationships between and among the institutions • Define the relationship between the state and the individual, define extent of civil liberty Types of Constitution • Codified and uncodified o Codified – enshrined in law and based on 1 single authoritative document outlining powers of institutions + government, as well as a statement of the rights of citizen’s ▪ Document is authoritative, highest law of the land. Binds all political institutions – leads to 2 tier legal system ▪ Provisions of it are entrenched, difficult to amend or abolish ▪ It is judiciable, all political bodies are subject to authority of the courts, in particular a supreme court. o Uncodified – increasingly rare, UK one of few ▪ Not authoritative, constitutional laws treated same as ordinary laws ▪ Not entrenched, constitution can be changed through the normal process for enacting statute law. ▪ Not judiciable, judges do not have legal standard to declare that actions of other bodies are constitutional/not constitutional. o However: ▪ No constitution is entirely written, written documents do not encompass all aspects of constitutional practice ▪ No constitution...
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...failure of the Frankfurt Parliament? After the 1848 revolutions in Germany, the Frankfurt Parliament was established as a result of Fredrick William IV and other princes conceding constitutions and the Vorparlament taking the first step. The reason why the Parliament failed can be debated from different viewpoints, but there were some main points that ended it. Fredrick William did have a part in the failure of the Parliament, but not as much as the lack of taking action and some other crucial problems. The Frankfurt parliaments aim was to establish a much stronger central government with greater control of individual states. By the end of May 1848, the Parliament had declared its authority over the states, their parliament and the princes. They now had to draw up a constitution and organise a government to reach their goal. It was hard however, to agree on the type of constitution and pursue as planned. The discussions were ill organised and even the decisions they did make were difficult to carry out because of the lack of an army. The Frankfurt Parliament was unable to collect taxation and therefor had little financial power, so steps were taken to build up a provisional government with little success. They did not give up however, and finally the parliament approved of the Fifty Articles (including freedom of worship and freedom of press) and they were made law. The lack of popular support was another great issue that lead to the failure of the Parliament. Since the majority...
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