Parliamentary Sovereignty Is Relevant To The United Kingdom

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Parliamentary sovereignty is, by definition, the supremacy of legislative body over all other institutions, for instance judiciary; the Parliament, therefore, can make or unmake any law, and this law cannot be overridden or set aside by anyone . Some critics argue that the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy is no longer relevant to the United Kingdom. United Kingdom had become the member of the European Union in 1972, and it can be said that the supremacy of European Union law – as well as UK’s appreciation of human rights – renders parliamentary sovereignty obsolete and a relic.
Since the enactment of the European Communities Act 1972, the European Union Act 2011, and the Human Rights act 1998 by the United Kingdom, academics and scholars argued that Parliamentary sovereignty has not been made irrelevant by these documents, but instead procedural limits have been placed upon it.
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Lord Bridge explained that, as the limitations of parliamentary sovereignty and EU law supremacy were clear before United Kingdom voluntarily joined the EU, it is the duty of UK courts to override statute law if necessary. It could be argued, therefore, that there is a confusion as to whether the courts should rule in favour of EU law or Parliamentary sovereignty.
With conflicting judgments, it would be hard to definitively say that section 2.1 imposes restrictions on Parliamentary sovereignty. However, if we use the constitutional ideology brought upon by Dicey, it can be assumed that, although, EU law does implement restrictions on parliamentary supremacy, it does not renders it completely obsolete or a relic. It should be remembered that the United Kingdom voluntarily joined EU, and is free to leave it whenever it will be decided so, which would remove any restrictions implemented by the