Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy By Chenying ZHENG
What‘s the doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy?
Parliamentary Supremacy is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. Under parliamentary sovereignty, a legislative body has absolute sovereignty, meaning it is supreme to all other government institutions (including any executive or judicial bodies as they may exist). Furthermore, it implies that the legislative body may change or repeal any prior legislative acts. Parliamentary sovereignty contrasts with notions of judicial review, where a court may overturn legislation deemed unconstitutional. Specific instances of parliamentary sovereignty exist in Finland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Malta, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, etc.
The supremacy of Parliament over the Sovereign was established in England by the Bill of Rights 1688. This remains part of New Zealand’s law today.
The doctrine of parliamentary supremacy may be summarised in three points:
Parliament can make laws concerning anything.
No Parliament can bind a future parliament (that is, it cannot pass a law that cannot be changed or reversed by a future Parliament).
A valid Act of Parliament cannot be questioned by the court. Parliament is the supreme lawmaker.
Parliament is the supreme legislative power. It has two constituent parts:
the Sovereign (represented in New Zealand by the Governor-General)
the House of Representatives
It follows that nobody including a Court of Law can question Parliament's laws. Although the rule speaks of 'no-one', the key issue is whether the Court can challenge Parliament. Under the traditional model of Parliamentary Sovereignty the answer is 'no'.
The concept of parliamentary sovereignty in New Zealand is derived from that in the United Kingdom but differs in that New Zealand has no devolved institutions and supra-national obligations. New Zealand's unitary and insular status avoids any comparable limitations on legislative power: The constitutional position in New Zealand... is clear and unambiguous. Parliament is supreme and the function of the courts is to interpret the law as laid down by Parliament. The courts do not have a power to consider the validity of properly enacted laws.
Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy is importan
New Zealand’s Parliament was bicameral with an upper house known as the Legislative Council until 1950. Now it is unicameral. This means it has only one chamber (the House of Representatives) and there is no upper house such as a senate.
he four main functions of Parliament are:
to provide representation for the people
to pass the legislation (law) by which the country is governed
to scrutinise the activities of the Government
to approve the supply of public funds to the Government
Parliamentary Supremacy ensures that major issues of public policy are ultimately decided by a democratically elected institution that is directly accountable to the public. Parliamentary sovereignty can therefore be seen as underpinning democracy.
Parliamentary Supremacy means that parliament can revoke a piece of delegated legislation at any time, or pass legislation on the same subject as the delegated legislation. Parliamentary sovereignty is a major advantage as if for example unclear legislation was being passed or legislation imposing a tax when not supposed to, the revocation of that piece of legislation would be vital.
By Chenying ZHENG
What‘s the doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy?
Parliamentary Supremacy is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. Under parliamentary sovereignty, a legislative body has absolute sovereignty, meaning it is supreme to all other government institutions (including any executive or judicial bodies as they may exist). Furthermore, it implies that the legislative body may change or repeal any prior legislative acts. Parliamentary sovereignty contrasts with notions of judicial review, where a court may overturn legislation deemed unconstitutional. Specific instances of parliamentary sovereignty exist in Finland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Malta, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, etc.
The supremacy of Parliament over the Sovereign was established in England by the Bill of Rights 1688. This remains part of New Zealand’s law today.
The doctrine of parliamentary supremacy may be summarised in three points:
Parliament is the supreme legislative power. It has two constituent parts:
The concept of parliamentary sovereignty in New Zealand is derived from that in the United Kingdom but differs in that New Zealand has no devolved institutions and supra-national obligations. New Zealand's unitary and insular status avoids any comparable limitations on legislative power:
The constitutional position in New Zealand... is clear and unambiguous. Parliament is supreme and the function of the courts is to interpret the law as laid down by Parliament. The courts do not have a power to consider the validity of properly enacted laws.
Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy is importan
New Zealand’s Parliament was bicameral with an upper house known as the Legislative Council until 1950. Now it is unicameral. This means it has only one chamber (the House of Representatives) and there is no upper house such as a senate.
he four main functions of Parliament are:
Parliamentary Supremacy ensures that major issues of public policy are ultimately decided by a democratically elected institution that is directly accountable to the public. Parliamentary sovereignty can therefore be seen as underpinning democracy.
Parliamentary Supremacy means that parliament can revoke a piece of delegated legislation at any time, or pass legislation on the same subject as the delegated legislation. Parliamentary sovereignty is a major advantage as if for example unclear legislation was being passed or legislation imposing a tax when not supposed to, the revocation of that piece of legislation would be vital.
For more information see the website below:
Wikipedia
New Zealand Parliament
Refrerence
Hubbard, J., Thomas, C., Varnham, S. (2010). Principles of Law for New Zealand Business Students.