Haywood Case Study

Parliament sovereignty in its simplest form means the right to make, change or abolish any law (Haywood ???). Haywood (???) also discusses legal sovereignty as the ‘right’ to command obedience and political sovereignty as the ‘power’ to command obedience. Haywood goes on to discuss internal sovereignty as being the power authority within a given state such as the UK. External sovereignty would relate to the state/UK within the international spectrum and how the state uses its power to influence or be influenced by other states. This ability is said to be sovereign as there is no other power source in the UK that can override parliament legislation. Therefore, if parliament it has power. Power defined by Dhal (1957) as the ability to make

A constitution according to Haywood (???) is a set of rules written and unwritten. These rules enable powers and establish duties and define the relationships between the individual and the state. This constitution in the UK can be traced back to the Magna Carter (1215) where the separation of powers from the monarch to parliament began in response to unrest. The English Civil War (1642-1651) saw the Parliamentary victory that set the precedent that the monarch could not govern without parliament’s consent then in 1689 The Bill of Rights was introduced. Since then parliament has evolved with the Treaty of Union in 1707 that combined the parliaments of England and Scotland and later in 1801 Ireland joined and became known as Parliament of the UK while progressively limiting the powers of the monarch. With the historical events such as the Civil War (1642-1651) Great Reform Acts the 1689 the move away form the monarch and the divine right to rule, the introduction of a parliament that was to be voted for by the people. The parliament is made up of the monarch technically as head of state with the HOC and

The UK joined the joined the European Community in 1972?. By joining the EU the prime minister signing the treaties it meant that the UK became subject to European laws. European laws are superior to UK laws and in-turn means that this could be a reduction in parliament soveregnity. When the EU makes law, it does not automatically become UK law. The laws are agreed to by our parliament and treaties are signed. The EU laws need to be incorporated into British law. Laws in the UK can only be made by parliamentary legislation. The laws within the UK remain the same until they are challenged. This can be seen in the 1990 Factortame case where the EU courts overruled the UK parliament. The Spanish fishing company claimed that the UK had breeched EU laws and illegally denied access to UK waters. This case showed that supremacy of the EU laws and the power over UK laws and shows a reduction in sovereignty. On the other-hand the fact that the UK parliament agreed to join the EU and sign the treaties shows parliament sovereignty as being shared. The fact that we can and are in the process of repealing the decision to join the EU by opting out i.e. Brexit shows the UK parliament still has