Open AccessCentennial Lecture The Relationship of Parliament and the Courts: A Tentative Though or Two for the New Millennium
Author(s) -
Edward Thomas
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
victoria university of wellington law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1179-3082
pISSN - 1171-042X
DOI - 10.26686/vuwlr.v31i1.5960
Subject(s) - parliament , centennial , parliamentary sovereignty , constitution , legislature , law , sovereignty , political science , democracy , government (linguistics) , power (physics) , public administration , politics , history , philosophy , linguistics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
This paper was delivered as the Victoria University of Wellington Law Faculty's Centennial Lecture on 30 June 1999. The author discusses the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty, and the question as to whether the judiciary must acknowledge Parliament's sovereign legislative power without qualification. It is suggested that Parliament's legislative supremacy is not absolute, and that the courts have a crucial role in enforcing rights. However, the author also stresses that the fundamental plank of the constitution is the sovereignty of the people, and that Parliament's democratic imperative is representative government.