Sovereignty Of Parliament And The Rule Of Law

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In 1885, in his book ‘The law of the Constitution’, Professor Dicey wrote that the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom was underpinned by two principles, The Sovereignty of Parliament and The Rule of law. (A Dicey, An introduction to the study of the law of the constitution, 10th ed, 1959). The sovereignty of parliament is considered the founding principle of the constitution that can effectively supersede the Rule of law however it is clear that the two principles are interlinked and that the UK constitution is unable to function effectively if parliament and public officials do not respect the Rule of law. (The Rule of law and its underlying values, Jefferey Jowell) In this essay I will consider the Diceys definition of the Rule …show more content…

Judicial review is the means by which the high court exercises a supervisory jurisdiction over the decisions and actions of the inferior courts, tribunals or other public bodies. Richard Gordon, ‘Judicial review: Law and procedure’, (3rd Edition). Before Judicial review there was no effective way to supervise the administration and the British people had no way of seeking redress for grievances caused by actions of public authorities. (The Curious Origins of Judicial review’, T.T Arvind, Lindsay Stirton, 2017) The Minister of Justice commented that ‘Judicial review can be characterised as Diceys rule of law in action’.(Judicial review proposals for reform consultation paper sep 2015). If a public body abuses its power by acting outside the boundaries or not adhering to certain procedures it can be subjected to a judicial review claim by a member of the public. Effectively the rule of law is acting as a constraint on governmental power.(The Rule of law and its underlying values, Jefferey Jowell) The main requirements or grounds for judicial review were set out by Lord Diplock in Council of civil service unions v Minister for the civil service. They include legality, requiring officials to act within the scope of their decision making powers. The second ground is procedural impropriety which requires that fairness must be shown to those affected by the decision. Fairness was mentioned by Lord Bingham as one of the features of the Rule of law. The third requirement is irrationality or unreasonableness. .(The Constitution of the United Kingdom, Peter Leyland). In Bromley v Greater London Council a new policy decision by the Greater London Council was declared unlawful by the House of Lords and had to be repealed. This is a key example of a how judicial review reflects the rule of law as government officials as well as civilians

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