Parliamentary Supremacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Parliamentary Supremacy - Essay Example This actually outlines why the term parliamentary supremacy has been used. â€Å" Judicial statements that the court must simply interpret and apply that which had been so enacted, and may not question the procedure by which these consents were given, represent, therefore, no more than the rule of recognition in practice.†2 He doctrine of the legislative supremacy of parliament has been so firmly established that it has scarcely been challenged in the courts. When Canon Selwyn made an application questioning the validity of the Royal Assent to the Irish Church Disestablishment Act 1869 as being inconsistent with the coronation oath and the Act of settlement, Cockburn C.J, and Blackburn J in refusing the application said:† There is no judicial body in the country by which the validity of an Act of parliament can be questioned. An Act of legislature is superior in authority to any court of law†¦.and no court could pronounce a judgment as to the validity of an Act of parliament.†3 In Martin v O’sullivan4, Nourse J and the court of appeal refused to consider a claim that proceedings in thee House of Commons during the passage of the Bill which became the social security Act 1975 were invalid because the members of the House were all disqualified from sitting. There was, according to the judges, a fundamental answer to this case, namely, that a court only look at the parliamentary roll of statutes and if it appeared that an Act had passed both Houses of parliament and had received Royal assent it could look no further. In Attorney-General for the New South Wales v Trethowan5, the constitution(Legislative council Amendment)Act 1929, an Act of the New South Wales parliament provided that the parliament’s upper House could not be abolished except by a Bill approved in a referendum after completing its parliamentary