In order to reach a judgment that EU law undermines Parliamentary Sovereignty, the correlation between domestic and EU law needs to be examined. Based on the research carried out, it could be argued that EU fundamentally eroded some power of Parliamentary. This essay will demonstrate that the supremacy of Community law has undoubtedly diminished Parliamentary Sovereignty through academics, journals, cases and articles.
The United Kingdom is a dualist and a unitary state. In a dualist system of governance laws internationally are not directly significant domestically. Unlike other European countries, such as France and Italy, which have federal systems. In a dualist system the legislature does not change the laws until, it is incorporated
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The cornerstone of the British constitution is the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty. Ultimately, parliament is the only supreme body that can make and unmake laws. Therefore, no person or institution that could legally challenge any Act of Parliament; that the Acts of Parliament. In addition, parliamentary statutes are regarded as the highest form of law, thus the legislature is the sovereign law maker. In the opinion of the academics Hilaire Barnett, argued no law forms the decree that the judiciary has to obey Acts of Parliament, as it’s the highest source of law . It is legally invalid for Parliament to bind its successors; thus every Parliament has unlimited freedom to pass any legislations on any subject matter. Overall, Parliament sovereignty is fundamental in the British constitution. According to the conclusion drawn by the A.W. Bradley, on the account of the topic of Parliamentary sovereignty, it is possible, for Parliament to repeal the requirements of the ECA, thus removing itself European Communities Act 1972 . This is accurate to an extent, it differs from scholars and academics pre- 1991, they argued Parliamentary statutes are legally binding. Nevertheless, there are controls to laws Parliament chooses to enact, first it must remove …show more content…
The fundamental principle of the Community Act law takes precedence over Member State inconsistent national laws. This principle has made the Community Act more effectively, avoid political disputes amongst Member States. The principle of supremacy was clearly applied in the case of Case C- 26/62 Van Gend en Loos 1963. The case was about a Dutch importing chemicals from Germany to the Netherlands. The Dutch charged with high tariffs, Van Gend en Loss paid the custom duties, and sought for recovering the money back through national court Tarief commissie in Amsterdam. The court ruled that under article 12 of the European Communities Act prohibits the introduction of custom tariffs and duties to increase better market integration. This illustrates that this legal order benefits Member States, but yet restraints sovereign rights. This case is significant, as it established the doctrine of direct effect, and provided an effective enforcement mechanism for political stability. Again in the Case 6/64 Costa v Enel 1964 reinforced and laid the foundation of the doctrine of supremacy. The case demonstrated that countries in the EC have to limit their sovereignty on issues concerning EU laws. This submission under the EU law is significant, as it sets the rule of EU law takes precedence over fundamental laws of the countries of the ECA. In addition, EU laws can’t legally be put aside on a