Original scientific paper
Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Challenges of Judicial Activism in the United Kingdom
Petar Bačić
; Faculty of law, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The traditionally English principle of the inviolability of parliamentary sovereignty was strongly affected by the emancipation of the Commonwealth countries. Since the 1931 Westminster Statute, when the Imperial Parliament renounced the unilateral exercise of judicial power in the dominions until the present day, the theory of parliamentary sovereignty as unlimited judicial power has changed under the influence of the political reality. The author stresses that the constitutionalization of human rights' documents throughout the former British Empire has made possible not only specific forms of judicial supervision, but has also made way for judicial activism both in Great Britain and in other countries which were or still are under the strong influence of the British model of government. Declarations of rights were given the highest legal status and judicial protection, giving judges «the irrevocable power of invalidating incompatible legislation». The conclusion drawn by the author of this paper is that this has necessarily made way for a possible transition from legislative to constitutional supremacy.
Keywords
parliamentary sovereignty; declaration on rights; judicial power; judges; judicial activism
Hrčak ID:
59895
URI
Publication date:
27.10.2010.
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