Meaning and Nature of Parliamentary Sovereignty

The last topic told you Parliamentary Sovereignty exists and where it comes from. This one asks the sharper question examiners actually reward: what precisely does it mean to say a law-making body cannot be overridden — and can it really tie its own hands for the future?

In two minutes

Parliamentary sovereignty, in A. V. Dicey's classical formulation, has a positive side (Parliament may make or unmake any law whatever) and a negative side (no person or body, including a court, may override or set aside its legislation) — and its nature includes the further rule that no Parliament can bind a future Parliament.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Political Science – I: Political Theory and Political Organisation on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.