Parliamentary sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. It also holds that the legislative body may change or repeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law (in some cases, not even a constitution) or by precedent.
In some countries, parliamentary sovereignty may be contrasted with separation of powers, which limits the legislature's scope often to general law-making and makes it subject to external judicial review, where laws passed by the legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances. However, in such countries the legislative body still retains the sovereignty by the possibility to alter the constitution, which usually requires greater majority, often two thirds of votes instead of one half.
States that have sovereign legislatures include: the United Kingdom,[1] New Zealand,[2] the Netherlands,[2] Sweden,[2] Finland,[2] Jamaica.[3]
In Israel, issues surrounding the Knesset's supremacy have been contested by the courts over the last 30 years. In 2024, the Israeli Supreme Court, in an 8 to 7 decision, struck down a bill passed in the Knesset which aimed to restrict the courts from exercising judicial review on government actions unreasonable.[4]
Australia[edit]
Under the federal system, neither the states nor the federal parliament in Australia have true parliamentary sovereignty. The Commonwealth Parliament is created by the federal constitution, and only has enumerated powers. Each state's legislative power is inherent but restrained by the federal constitution, the relevant state constitution, and Commonwealth powers. Nevertheless, in the Australian context, "parliamentary supremacy" is used contextually as a term and has two meanings: one is that parliament (the legislature) can make and unmake any law; another meaning is that as long as a parliament (legislature) has the power to make laws regarding a subject matter, the exercise of that power cannot be challenged or reviewed by the judiciary. The second meaning is more consistent with the federal system and the practice of judicial review, as the judiciary cannot review on the merits of the parliament (legislature)'s exercise of power.
Blackshield & Williams (2010) explain that "[i]n Australia, the idea of Parliamentary Sovereignty must be understood in the context of the rigid limits and boundaries imposed by the federal Constitution, and to some extent by the State Constitutions as well."[5] Goss (2021) goes further and argues the ideas of parliamentary sovereignty and parliamentary supremacy are "inaccurate, inadequate, or unnecessary" usages in Australian law.[6]
The constitution confers the power to make laws in the Commonwealth Parliament, however, this is limited to particular subjects. Section 128 of the federal constitution prescribes the mode to alter the constitution, which further restricts the power of the Commonwealth Parliament.
The supremacy clause (section 109 of the constitution) gives Commonwealth laws precedence over state laws. The state law-making power is therefore constrained where the Commonwealth has concurrent law-making power. Furthermore, regarding the subject matters which Commonwealth has concurrent legislative power, the Commonwealth Parliament can "cover the field", which means the Commonwealth can, by express words or by implication, exclude the operations of state laws.[7] The Commonwealth Parliament has exclusive legislative power over the subject matters listed in sections 52 and 92 of the constitution, which means that the states cannot make laws in these areas. Also, under section 96 of the constitution, the Commonwealth can use financial assistance to entice states to refrain from exercising their legislative powers, such as refraining from collecting income tax.[8]
Each state parliament power is subject to procedural limitation, which is the entrenchment of restrictive legislative procedure. Section 6 of the Australia Act states that laws concerning the "constitution, power or procedure of the parliament" are invalid unless passed in the manner and form prescribed by the legislation made by the parliament.[9]
Belgium[edit]
Over the last forty years or so, a change has been observed in Belgium in the relationships between the judiciary and Parliament. The "dogma of absolute inviolability of the parliamentary assemblies" used to exist but has been "breached". The parliamentary assemblies are now accountable not just to the electors but also to the courts.
A first breach opened up by the Le Ski judgement of 27 May 1971, in which the Belgian Court of Cassation upheld the supremacy of the norm of self-executing international law. Then in 1980, Article 142 of the Constitution (former Article 107 ter) established a Court of Arbitration in Belgium, nowadays the Constitutional Court, charged with hearing actions for annulment of laws. It would hand down its first judgement on 5 April 1985.
A second breach was opened in the dogma of inviolability of the assemblies was by the Constitutional Court, in its judgement no. 31/96 of 15 May 1996. The Council of State, the highest administrative Court in Belgium, which had previously always insisted it had no jurisdiction to hear annulment applications against the administrative acts by the Houses of Parliament, declared that the absence of any possibility to apply for the annulment of such acts was contrary to the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination, opened up a new avenue for judicial review of Parliament's acts: the laws of 25 May 1999 and of 15 May 2007, adopted in the wake of the Court's judgement, extended the jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court to the acts and Rules of Procedure of the legislative assemblies or their organs with regard to public procurement and personnel.
Third and finally, concerning the decisions taken by the assemblies with regard to MPs or political groups, the civil courts have not hesitated to sanction them when subjective rights were at stake. MPs "enjoy the protection of their subjective rights by the law courts. This principle applies both for rights deriving from the law in the broad sense and for rights which have a regulatory basis" (Civ. Brussels, 21 April 1997).[10]
Finland[edit]
According to the constitution of Finland sovereign power lies with the people, represented by the parliament.[11] As the highest organ of government the parliament holds supreme legislative power and can override a presidential veto and alter the constitution. There is no constitutional court and the supreme court does not have an explicit right to declare a law unconstitutional.
By principle, the constitutionality of laws in Finland is verified by a simple vote in the parliament. However, the Constitutional Law Committee of the parliament reviews any doubtful bills and recommends changes, if needed. In practice, the Constitutional Law Committee fulfills the duties of a constitutional court. In addition to preview by the Constitutional Law Committee, all Finnish courts of law have the obligation to give precedence to the constitution when there is an obvious conflict between the Constitution and a regular law.
The power to alter and amend the constitution is vested with the parliament, requiring approval either by a two-thirds vote in a single parliament if the proposed alteration is first declared to be urgent by a five-sixths vote of the same parliament, or by a slower procedure of first passing the amendment by a majority in the then current parliament and then passing the amendment by a two-thirds vote in the following parliament that convenes after a general election. A Finnish peculiarity is that the parliament can make exceptions to the constitution in ordinary laws that are enacted in the same procedure as constitutional amendments. An example of such a law is the State of Preparedness Act which gives the Council of State certain exceptional powers in cases of national emergency. As these powers, which correspond to U.S. executive orders, affect constitutional basic rights, the law was enacted in the same manner as a constitutional amendment. However, it can be repealed in the same manner as an ordinary law.
Executive power is shared by the President of the Republic and the cabinet. The latter must rely on the confidence of parliament. From the independence of Finland in 1917 up to the constitutional reform of 1999, the president held considerable executive powers, and in particular was able to call a re-election of the parliament at will. In order to strengthen the role of the parliament as the highest organ of government, the constitutional reform constrained most of the presidential powers to be exercised only on the advice of the cabinet.[12]
Italy[edit]
The sovereignty of Parliament in Italy is born from parliamentary privilege,[13] but, in one of the most comprehensive and compelling "systemic" judgments, the Constitutional Court (rapporteur Carlo Mezzanotte) had opened the justiciability of interna corporis.[14] Traces of the old theories are expressed in autodichia, which involves subtracting the ordinary courts of all acts performed within the Chambers.[15] The choice to set off some acts to the Presidents of the Parliament has been criticized as an attempt to exclude them from judicial review,[16] even when pertaining to individual rights:[17] this has given rise to some conflicts between the judiciary and Parliament,[18] brought to the Constitutional Court,[19] who gave useful elements to restrict the legal definition,[20] compelling the legal doctrine through the modern evolution of the sovereignty of Parliament.[21]