Governing the UK - Parliament (2)

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Unit 2 Topic 1

• The most important principle in the British Constitution.

Sovereignty: absolute power or authority.

Parliamentary authority: Parl't is the supreme legal authority in the UK.

Comparison within the USA

• UK has an uncodified constitution.
• USA has a codified constitution.
• The USA constitution is entrenched (difficult to change).
• This means the USA has 'higher law'.
• They have rights that cannot be removed by the legislature.
• The supreme court can rule legislation to be unconstitutional. They can strike it down.

USA continued

• 2nd amendment; right to bear arms.
• The judiciary interpret both common and higher (constitutional) law, including cases to do with the 2nd Amendment. They can strike down any proposed laws or amendments.

UK Parliament

• "Parliament has 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."

Three features of parliamentary sovereignty:

• Parliament can make law in any area.
• No Parliament can bind its successor (a Parliament cannot pass a law that cannot be changed or reversed by a future Parliament).
• No body except Parliament can change or reverse a law passed by Parliament.

Functions of Parliament

…