Parliament and the Law
The Telegraph headline Judges have limits introduces an attack on judges for interpreting the law.
The Telegraph is trying to argue that our judges should not have the authority to overrule government ministers.
In one case Lord Justice Collins ruled that soldiers should have full legal protection wherever they are. The Telegraph seems to think that the judge was wrong and says the case sets an unwelcome precedent and it is not for the courts to decide such things.
I would disagree on several fronts:
A minister is not parliament, it is parliament that makes laws (or used to) if a minister decides to interpret the law in one way that should be testable in a court of law if a different interpretations can be applied.
If the civil law is going to be used against individual soldiers doing their job, which is has been several times, then the Telegraph cannot in all fairness have it both ways.
The concept the Telegraph is applying is that of Parliamentary Sovereignty i.e. No court has the power to overturn laws made by Parliament. All very fine but it was Parliament which gave the judges the power in the first place, so Parliament has limited it own sovereignty by declaring that judges did have the power to apply the law. What else can be deduced from the fact that parliament made Human Rights Act justifiable.
Was it only two weeks ago that the Bill Cash amendment to the Lisbon treaty was only supported by around forty MPs.
Notwithstanding any provision of the European Communities Act 1972, nothing in this Act shall affect or be construed by any court in the United Kingdom as affecting the supremacy of the United Kingdom Parliament.
The other point to make is our judges have always had the authority to apply the law and have always interpreted it. Also if the law is written in an ambiguous manner which so many of them are, then who else but the judges should decide on that ambiguity.
Technorati Tags:
interpreting the law, Parliamentary Sovereignty, Judges,
Well said, though there are many times I find myself disagreeing with the Judges of this land, I’d far rather they were reviewing the law and deciding on legalities than government ministers who seem to be convinced of their own infallibility.
[...] (as I have mentioned a few times) that Parliament itself has just voted down an amendment in the Lisbon Treaty bill that would have [...]