Parliamentary Sovereignty

It is a greatly debated issue as to the level of Legislative Supremacy or ‘Sovereignty’ that Parliament both has and exercises. Within the roles of Parliament includes the making of laws, by enacting statutes, which subsequently are enforced by courts for citizens to follow. I will be evaluating to what extent this sovereignty has been rendered obsolete by the supremacy of EU law and also the UK’s statutory recognition of human rights. Should we still consider this doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty as a powerful relic or has it yielded under the power of other authority.

This impact of the parliamentary sovereignty came about as an aftermath of the English Civil War in the 17th Century, with Parliament asserting its claim to sovereignty

After Factortame, there is now authority for the proposition that Parliament can impose such limitations, the old absolutism of sovereignty is no longer

The Human Rights Act provides for challenges to be made to Acts of Parliament which violate European convention of human rights (ECHR). The HRA made the rights directly enforceable in domestic courts, meaning instead of having to go to the Strasbourg Court, a person could argue breaches of their rights under the convention in any court in the UK This is clearly expressed in Section6 ‘It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a convention right’ One of the most important rules within the Human Rights convention is left to the courts responsibility to ensure they uphold the convention rights. Firstly, UK courts may now deal with issues previously dealt with in Strasbourg courts, as the Act allows claimants to argue breach of their convention rights in UK courts. Secondly, courts must figure out, when dealing with a Human Rights claim if the UK law on the issue is consistent or breaches the conventional