The House of Commons
‘The House of Commons most important function is to participate in the
law making process’ Give arguments for and against this view
Parliament is described as the ‘legislature’; this suggests its main
role is to make laws. However, the legislative procedure process is a
relatively small part of its functions. The House of Commons, in
particular, plays a much wider role in the British political system
than the term ‘legislature’ suggests. There are many different
functions undertaken by the House of Commons.
The House of Commons plays an important role in law making; they do
not legislate, however, they can put forward bills to the House of
Lords. Two circumstances apply to this: The first being a Private
Members’ Bill, this is when a bill is introduced by an individual MP
and the second is a free vote, this is when MPs are allowed to make up
their own minds without the interference of the whips but by no means
is the House of Commons a law-maker in the true sense of the word. The
House of Commons’ most important function could, therefore, be law
making; Private members’ bills do allow for a few important
legislatures, as singular MPs have been listened to. Such important
bills as the 1967 abortion act and homosexual law reform measures have
all been put forward by a single MP and have been legislated. However,
there is downfall to the seemingly ideal Private members’ bill,
success is rare and to introduce a bill with no chance of success in
the House of Commons is futile. Although success is rare, MPs have
realised that by the failure of the bill it creates publicity for the
issue and this may encourage public support if it is reported in
nationwide newspapers.
Law making in the House of Commons is also the most important function
as any MP can influence the legislation content, they can put forward
their ideas and debate them in order to put forward a suitable bill to
the House of Lords, trying to make sure there are no flaws.
Sections 7 and 24 of the Commonwealth Constitution confer an implied right to vote. This interpretation comes from that the people elected to be the members of the Senate and the House of Representative are defined as ‘directly chosen by the people’. In other words, the equal electorate needs for the people who participate in elections to express their wills through their representative. Accordingly, the implied right is consistent with the definitions of representative democracy and representative government. The following case, Rowe, is considered the both notions, bu...
Many operate under the principle referred to as the law of the land, which especially true of England and the Netherlands. This concept finds its basis on the ideas of the elected parliament as to their declarations of the precepts of the law as they view it. This particular reasoning evolved via the death of Charles Stuart, the king of England, upon his execution on January 30th, 1649. As a result, of the execution, England had no central ruler and the constituents of the House of Commons began the duty of transforming the government. Because the House of Lords opposed the trial of the tyrannical king, the House of Commons declared itself the ruling body negating any power the House of Lords possessed and thus, abolishing it. Consequently, the House of Commons maintained that it would become their responsibility to protect not only the liberty, but also the safe being, and the interest of the public at large, thus Parliament came into being (Lee, n.d.). Furthermore, they mandated that a single person having sole power presented a danger to the whole of the public welfare and the monarchy existence was figuratively only. Because of these acts, with the abolishment of the House of Lords and the monarchy as such, a contingency of forty-one members comprising the Council of State became the ruling authority establishing the laws of the
of the Senate while others such as the Reform Party want to elect it. Since the
Legislation and the Common law are not separate and independent sources of law. They exist in a symbiotic relationship. Symbiotic relationship refers to the two different sources of legal norms that provide the sum of rules establish system as a whole. (Brodie v Singleton Shire Council (2001) 206 CLR 512, 532 [31])
The Two Party System of UK It has often been said that the United Kingdom possesses a two party political system. However, any balanced argument on this issue must take into account both the differing perspectives from which this subject can be viewed and the time period which is being evaluated. The two party theory is not universally accepted and many people argue that the UK can best be described as a multi party, dominant party or even a two and a half or three party system, depending on how the subject is approached. The most commonly held view is that Britain is a two party system.
... idea of Parliamentary Sovereignty: The Controlling Factor of Legality in the British Constitution’ (2008) OJLS 709.
The House of Lords is the upper, unelected house of the Houses of Parliament, according to the Westminster model. It consists of Life Peers who are appointed; Hereditary peers who inherited their seats; and Lords Spiritual whoa re important members of the Church of England. They have roles in scrutiny and accountability and also legislation. This essay will discuss the functions of the House of Lords and evaluate whether it should be abolished or not. This will be achieved by addressing its role in scrutiny and accountability, and by considering the issue of it being unelected and therefore not representative, while also looking at options for reform.
importance." (Loades 93) But the Parliament did also have its faults. It had a separation between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of the Lords was closer to the court, highly spiritual, and made themselves to the hand of the monarch.
in the way of the home rule bill due to the fact that the House of
they must be a member of either the House of Commons or the House of
On one hand, political constitutionalists argue that parliamentary sovereignty is the underlying principle in the British constitution as power and law making are bo...
In conclusion it seems that the traditional view of parliamentary sovereignty as purported by Dicey is no longer an immutable part of our constitution. Although it remains a key principle of our constitution, it has now been reinterpreted in light of seminal cases such as Factortame and Jackson, from a legally unchangeable, rule of our constitution, to one in which Parliament is no longer prevented from placing limits to the content and form of itself.
The RP helps to keep our powers separated which avoiding the judicial tyranny. After the formation of the two houses of parliament, which called the legislature, the creation of our statutes prevail to the RP. In the case of De Kayser, RP and statute found to co-exist and statute prevails, for the reason that the representatives in the House of Commons are elected from the public in order to create statute to help the development of the country. Moreover, the constitutional conventions are also part of our unwritten constitution and have conflict to the royal prerogative. Some of the RP powers are included to the conventions such as the automatic granting of royal assent, which the Queen should sign after the convention. Finally, the fire brigades union case mentioned that the executive cannot exercise the prerogative in a way which would derogate from the due fulfilment of statutory duty. The data indicates that the current prime minister, has power to overrule the UK’s parliament recent vote of a military intervention in Syria by using the RP which bypass any common decision of acts of war. Generally, powers such as the parliamentary immunity and prerogative powers, destroy the equality and justice of the society, by giving permission, to avoid the soft process of the legitimate society and finally breaking the rule of law. Supporting this argument, a member of parliament, Jack Straw strongly
The rule of law is thought to be one of the most fundamental doctrines of the constitution of the whole of the United Kingdom. The distinctive UK‘s constitution has influences previously on the judicial system too. Government and the legal systems in history have both been involved in rules and discretion and most of all the elimination of all discretionary power in which both of these are impossible and unwanted. The rule of law means in one sense, government by the law but obviously government is by the people as well as by the law. As soon as the governing people are added in, the government can’t then be by law on there own. Although the situation is not undoubtedly as the making of particular laws can be guided by open and relatively stable general laws that have been made. For the Rule of Law to have meaning in a democratic society, it has to mean that those who run it have comply with it for it to work; there must be no room for an “ends justifies the means”