Is Parliament Supreme Over The Judiciary And The Executive? Give Reasons For Your Answer. Essay, Research Paper

Parliament is supreme over the executive and judiciary in the way that it is the sovereign law making body. The parliament however is restricted within the constitution and it can not act outside of it. Although it does hold great power it does not have complete power due to the separation of powers. Because the parliament exercises democratic power in accordance with representative government principles it is justified to making laws that override the common law principles created by judges in case law. The one exception of this is the High Courts interpretation of the constitution. Parliament may overturn or overrule laws made by the judiciary they can do this to all cases except _____ cases.

Parliament is made up of two houses and the Crown, and the Governor General and Governor are both part of the legislature and the executive. Members of parliament that are ministers are to a degree are in both the executive and the legislature. Ministers are accountable to parliament and are scrutinised at question time and urgency, grievance debates.

Parliament recommends that people are appointed to the position of Governor General or Governor to the Queen of Australia. Former politicians and senior judges quite often fill these positions. Parliament and only parliament can dismiss the current governor by asking the Queen to recall the commission of her representative.

When law is made by the executive it is heavily supervised by parliament, it is supervised using a considerable array of tools. Some of these tools that are used may be disallowance motions, amending the enabling acts, questions to the minister, and recommendations from the standing committees. The executive requires many laws and it gets these through the legislature. The executive can also have a strong influence on the work of parliament through the cabinet. The executive is responsible to the parliament through the work of the cabinet ministers.

The major influence that parliament has over the judiciary is to make laws that achieve the dual functions of social cohesion and social progress together. Parliament can dismiss judges and in recent years legislature had controlled judges by controlling their courts and not re-appointing judges. Today judges are appointed by the Crown (Governor) upon the advice of the government (ministers). Some judges at state and commonwealth level have previously been politicians and ministers. Judges interpret the statutes made by the legislature, and judges could be asked to rule on the validity of delegated legislation made by executive.

In concluding Parliament is supreme over the executive and judiciary in a number of ways and obviously holds and exercises more power. However it is restricted by the constitution and also by separation of powers.