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Parliament of the United Kingdom

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The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It consists of the Sovereign, an upper house called the House of Lords and a lower house called the House of Commons. In modern times, the House of Commons holds almost the entirety of the power of Parliament; the Sovereign acts only as a figurehead, and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in the Palace of Westminster, sometimes known as the "Houses of Parliament."

History

One may trace the origin of Parliament to the times of the Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon Kings were advised by a council known as the Witenagemot, whose foremost members were the King's sons and brothers. The Earldormen, or executive heads of the shires, also had seats in the Witenagemot, as did the senior clergymen of the state. The King still possessed ultimate authority, but laws were made only after seeking the advice (and, in later times, the consent) of the Witenagemot.

The entire Anglo-Saxon body politic was reformed when William of Normandy conquered England in 1066. William brought to England the feudal system he was accustomed to in his native France. Thus, he granted land to his most important military supporters, who in turn granted land to their supporters, thus creating a feudal heirarchy. Those who held lands directly from the King were known as tenants-in-chief, and the territories they held were called manors. William I was an absolute ruler, but, as a matter of course, he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics, before making laws.

The tenants-in-chief often struggled with their spiritual counterparts and with the King for power. In 1215, they secured from John the Magna Carta, which established that the King may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his council. It was also established that the most important tenants-in-chief (the earls and the barons), as well as the ecclesiastics (archbishops, bishops and abbots) be summoned to the council by personal writs from the Sovereign, and that all others be summoned to the council by general writs from the sheriffs of their counties. John later repealed the Magna Carta, but Henry III reinstated it.

The royal council slowly developed into a Parliament. The so-called "Model Parliament" was summoned by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester in 1265, without any precedent or prior royal authorisation. The archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and barons were summoned, as were two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each borough. Knights had been summoned to previous councils, but the representation of the boroughs was unprecedented. Lord Leicester's unauthorised scheme was formally adopted by Edward I in 1295. At first, each estate debated independently; by the reign of Edward III, however, Parliament had been separated into two Houses: one, including the nobility and higher clergy, the other, including the knights and burgesses. The authority of Parliament grew under Edward III; it was established that no law could be maid, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses as well as of the Sovereign.

Composition

At the head of Parliament is the British Sovereign. The Sovereign's role, however, is merely ceremonial; in practice, he or she always acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and other ministers, who are in turn accountable to the two Houses of Parliament. The Sovereign, acting with the consent of Parliament, is called the Queen-in-Parliament or King-in-Parliament.

The upper House, the House of Lords, is mostly made up of appointed members ("Lords of Parliament"), categorised as Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The whole House is formally styled The Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled. The Lords Spiritual are twenty-six most senior diocesan bishops of the Church of England; they always include the incumbents of the "five great sees," namely, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Winchester. The Lords Temporal are all members of the Peerage. Under the House of Lords Act 1999, only life peerage dignities (that is to say, peerage dignities which cannot be inherited) automatically entitle their holders to seats in the House of Lords. Life peerage dignities are created by the Crown, but on the advice of the Prime Minister; thus, most Lords of Parliament are in reality appointees of Prime Ministers. Of the hereditary peers, only ninety-two—the individuals exercising the offices of Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain, in addition to ninety hereditary peers elected by other peers—retain their seats in the House. The Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal, though considered distinct estates, vote together in the House of Lords.

The House of Commons consists of 659 members ("Members of Parliament" or "MPs"). The whole House is formally styled The Honourable The Commons in Parliament Assembled. Each member is chosen by a single constituency according to the First-Past-the-Post electoral system. Universal adult suffrage prevails; citizens of the United Kingdom, as well as citizens of the Republic of Ireland and of Commonwealth nations resident in the United Kingdom, are qualified to vote. The term of members of the House of Commons depends on the term of Parliament; a general election, during which all the seats are contested, occurs after each dissolution (see below).

Each of the two Houses of Parliament is presided over by a Speaker. In the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor is the ex officio Speaker; in his absence, Deputy Speakers appointed by the Sovereign preside. The Speaker of the House of Commons, on the other hand, is an official elected by his house. Theoretically, the approbation of the Sovereign is required before the election becomes valid, but it is, by modern conventions, always granted.

The three branches of Parliament are supposed to be kept separate from each other; no individual may form a part of more than one component of Parliament. Lords of Parliament are legally barred from voting in elections for members of the House of Commons; furthermore, the Sovereign by convention does not vote, although there is no statutory impediment.

Term

Each Parliament is summoned by the authority of the Sovereign, and afterwards expires, either by the command of the Sovereign or by effluxion of time, the former being more common in modern times. After each Parliament concludes, a general election is held, and new members of the House of Commons elected. The membership of the House of Lords, however, does not change due to a dissolution. Each Parliament which assembles following a general election is deemed to be distinct from the one which just concluded. Thus, each Parliament is separately numbered, the present Parliament being the Fifty-Third Parliament of the United Kingdom (that is to say, the fifty-third Parliament summoned since the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801). Previous Parliaments were "of Great Britain" or "of England."

The dissolution of Parliament is effected by the Sovereign, but always on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may seek a dissolution because the time is politically advantageous to his or her party. Furthermore, if the Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Commons, he must either resign or seek a dissolution of Parliament to renew his or her mandate.

Originally, there was no fixed limit on the length of a Parliament, but the Triennial Act 1641 set the maximum duration at three years. The limit was repealed in 1664, but again reinstated in 1694. As the frequent elections were deemed inconvenient, the Septennial Act 1716 extended the maximum duration to seven years, but the Parliament Act 1911 reduced it to five years. During the Second World War, the term was temporarily extended to ten years by Acts of Parliament. Since the end of the war in 1945, however, the maximum term has remained five years. Modern Parliaments, however, rarely continue for the maximum duration; normally, they are dissolved earlier. For instance, the Fifty-Second Parliament assembled in 1997, but was dissolved after only four years.

Formerly, the demise of the Sovereign automatically brought a Parliament to an end, for the Crown was seen as the caput, principium, et finis (beginning, basis and end) of the body. It was, however, deemed inconvenient to have no Parliament at a time when succession to the Crown could be disputed. Thus, a statute passed during the reign of William III and Mary II provided that a Parliament was to continue for six months after the death of a Sovereign, unless dissolved earlier. The Representation of the People Act 1867 brought this arrangement to an end; now, a demise in the Crown does not affect the duration of a Parliament.

Sessions

Each Parliament's meetings may be further divided into sessions, each of which begins when Parliament is summoned by the Sovereign. Neither House can conduct any business, other than the swearing of oaths of allegiance and the election of a Speaker of the House of Commons, until the Sovereign indicates his or her reasons for calling Parliament together at the State Opening of Parliament. During the State Opening, the Lords of Parliament, in their ceremonial Parliamentary Robes, assemble in the Lords Chamber; the members of the House of Commons assemble immediately beyond the Bar, outside the Chamber. The Sovereign reads the Speech from the Throne—the content of which is determined by the Ministers of the Crown&mash;outlining the Government's legislative agenda for the upcoming year. Thereafter, each House proceeds to the transaction of legislative business. By custom, before considering the Government's legislative agenda, a bill is introduced pro forma in each House—the Select Vestries Bill in the House of Lords and the Outlawries Bill in the House of Commons. These bills do not actually become laws; they are merely ceremonial indications of the power of each House to debate independently of the Crown.

A session of Parliament is brought to an end by a prorogation. There is a ceremony similar to the State Opening, but it is much less well-known. Normally, the Sovereign does not personally attend the prorogation ceremony in the House of Lords; rather, he or she is represented by a delegation of Lords Commissioners. Theoretically, the Lords Commissioners may also participate the State Opening of Parliament; this procedure was adopted when HM The Queen was pregnant with the future Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and afterwards when she was pregnant with the future Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Legislative functions

Laws, in draft form known as bills, may be introduced by any member of either House. Usually, however, a bill is introduced by a Minister of the Crown. A bill introduced by a Minister is known as a "Government Bill"; one introduced by another member is called a "Private Member's Bill." A different way of categorising bills involves the subject. Most bills, involving the general public, are called "Public Bills." A bill that seeks to grant special rights to an individual or small group of individuals is called a "Private Bill." A Private Bill which has broader public implications is called a "Hybrid Bill."

Each Bill goes through several stages in each House. The first stage, called the first reading, is a mere formality. At the next stage, the second reading, the general principles of the bill are debated. At the second reading, the House may vote to reject the bill (by refusing to pass the motion "That the Bill be now read a second time"), but defeats of Government Bills are extremely rare.

Following the second reading, the bill is sent to a committee. In the House of Lords, the Committee of the Whole House or the Grand Committee is used. Each consists of all members of the House; the latter operates under special procedures, and is used only for uncontroversial bills. In the House of Commons, the bill is usually committed to a Standing Committee, consisting of between sixteen and fifty members, but the Committee of the Whole House is used for important legislation. Several other types of committees, including Select Committes, may be used, but are in practice only rarely employed. A committee considers the bill clause-by-clause, and reports its proposed amendments to the entire House, where further detailed consideration occurs.

Once the House considers the bill, the third reading follows. In the House of Commons, no further amendments may be made, and the passage of the motion "That the Bill be now read a third time" amounts to passage of the whole bill. In the House of Lords, however, further amendments to the bill may be moved. After the passage of the third reading motion mentioned above, the House of Lords must vote on another motion "That the Bill do now pass." Following its passage in one House, the bill is sent to the other House. If passed in identical form by both Houses, it may be presented for the Sovereign's Assent. If, however, one House passes amendments that the other will not agree to, and the two Houses cannot resolve their disagreements, the bill fails.

Since the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, however, the power of the House of Lords to interfere with bills passed by the House of Commons has been restricted. Further restrictions were placed by the Parliament Act 1949. Thus, if the House of Commons passes a public bill in two successive sessions, and the House of Lords rejects them both times, then the Commons may direct that the bill be presented to the Sovereign for his or her Assent, disregarding the rejection of the Bill in the House of Lords. In each case, the bill must be passed by the House of Commons at least one calendar month before the end of the session. The provision does not apply to bills originated in the House of Lords, to bills seeking to extend the duration of a Parliament beyond five years or to Private Bills. A special procedure applies in relation to bills classified by the Speaker of the House of Commons as "Money Bills." A Money Bill solely concerns national taxation or public funds; the Speaker's certificate is deemed conclusive under all circumstances. If the House of Lords fails to pass a Money Bill within one month of its passage in the House of Commons, the lower House may direct that the Bill be submitted for the Sovereign's Assent immediately.

Even before the passage of the Parliament Acts, the Commons possessed pre-eminence in cases of financial matters. By ancient custom, the House of Lords may neither introduce a bill relating to taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a provision relating to taxation or Supply, nor amend a Supply Bill in any way. The House of Commons, however, is free to waive this privilege, and sometimes does so to allow the House of Lords to pass amendments with financial implications. The House of Lords, however, remains free to reject bills relating to Supply and taxation, but may be easily ovveruled if the bills are Money Bills. (A bill relating to revenue and Supply may not be a Money Bill if, for example, it includes subjects other than national taxation and public funds).

The last stage of a bill involves the granting of the Royal Assent. Theoretically, the Sovereign may grant the Royal Assent (that is, make the bill a law) or withhold the Royal Assent (that is, veto the bill). Under modern notions of a constitutional monarchy, however, the Sovereign always grants the Royal Assent. The last refusal to grant the Assent came in 1708, when Anne withheld her Assent from a bill "for the settling of Militia in Scotland."

Every bill, thus, obtain the assent of all three components of Parliament before it becomes law (except as provided by the Parliament Acts). All laws are in theory "enacted" by the Sovereign, with the consent of the Lords and Commons. The words "Be it enacted by the Queen's [King's] most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same" form a part of each Act of Parliament (even where the House of Lords' refusal to pass the bill has been overridden under the Parliament Acts).

Judicial functions

In addition to its legislative functions, Parliament also performs several judicial functions. The Queen-in-Parliament constitutes the highest court in the realm for most purposes, but the Privy Council has jurisdiction in some cases (for instance, appeals from ecclesiastical courts). The jurisdiction of Parliament arises from the ancient custom of petitioning the Houses to redress grievances and to do justice. The House of Commons ceased considering petitions to reverse the judgements of lower courts in 1399, effectively leaving the House of Lords as the realm's court of last resort. In modern times, the judicial functions of the House of Lords are performed not by the whole House, but by a group of "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary" (judges granted life peerage dignities under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 by the Sovereign) and by "Lords of Appeal" (other peers with experience in the judiciary). The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary and Lords of Appeal (or "Law Lords") are Lords of Parliament, but normally do not vote or speak on political matters.

Certain other judicial functions have historically been performed by the House of Lords. Until 1948, it was the body in which peers of the Realm had to be tried for felonies or high treason; now, peers are tried by normal juries. Furthermore, when the House of Commons impeaches an individual, the trial takes place in the House of Lords. Impeachments, however, are now obsolete; the last impeachment occurred in 1806.

Sovereignty

Several different views have been taken of Parliament's sovereignty. According to the eminent jurist Sir William Blackstone, "It has sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal … It can, in short, do every thing that is not naturally impossible."

A different view, however, has been taken by the Scottish judge Lord Cooper of Culross. When he decided the case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate as Lord President of the Court of Session, he stated, "the principle of unlimited sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle and has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law." He continued, "Considering that the Union legislation extinguished the Parliaments of Scotland and England and replaced them by a new Parliament, I have difficulty in seeing why the new Parliament of Great Britain must inherit all the peculiar characteristics of the English Parliament but none of the Scottish." Nevertheless, he did not give a conclusive opinion on the subject. Thus, the question of Parliamentary sovereignty appears to remain unresolved. Parliament has not passed any Act defining its own sovereignty.

Parliament's power has often been eroded by its own Acts. Acts passed in 1921 and 1925 grant the Church of Scotland complete independence in ecclesiastical matters. More recently, its power has been somewhat restricted by Britain's membership of the European Union, which has the power to make laws enforceable in each member state. Parliament has also created regional devolved assemblies with legislative authority in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Similarly, it has granted the power to make regulations to Ministers of the Crown, and the power to enact religious legislation to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Measures of the General Synod and, in some cases, proposed statutory instruments made by ministers must be approved by both Houses before they become law.) In every case aforementioned, however, authority has been conceded by Act of Parliament, and may be taken back in the same manner. It is entirely within the authority of Parliament to, for example, abolish the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

One well-recognised exception to Parliament's power involves binding future Parliaments. No Act of Parliament may be made secure from amendment or repeal by a future Parliament. For example, although the Act of Union 1800 states that the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland are to be united "forever," Parliament permitted Southern Ireland to separate into a distinct nation, the Irish Free State, in 1922.

Relationship with the Executive

 
The Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster) with the London Eye in the background

The British Government is answerable to the lower house, the House of Commons. However, neither the Prime Minister nor members of the Government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead, the Queen requests the person most likely to command the support of a majority in the House, normally the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, to form a government. So that they may be accountable to the lower House, the Prime Minister and most members of the Cabinet are members of the House of Commons instead of the House of Lords. The last Prime Minister to be a Lord of Parliament was Alec-Douglas Home, 14th Earl of Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963. Nevertheless, to adhere to the convention under which he was responsible to the lower House, Lord Home disclaimed his peerage dignity and procured election to the House of Commons.

Parliament controls the executive by passing or rejecting its Bills and by forcing Ministers of the Crown to answer for their actions, either at "Question Time" or during meetings of the parliamentary committees. In both cases, the Ministers are asked questions by members of their Houses, and are obliged to answer.

Although the House of Lords may scrutinise the executive through Question Time and through its committees, it cannot bring about the end of a Government. A ministry must, however, always retain the confidence and support of the House of Commons. The lower House may indicate its lack of support by rejecting a Motion of Confidence or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence Motions are generally originated by the Government in order to reinforce its support in the House, whilst No Confidence Motions are introduced by the Opposition. The motions sometimes take the form "That this House has [no] confidence in Her Majesty's Government" but several other varieties, many referring to specific policies supported or opposed by Parliament, are often used. For instance, a Confidence Motion of 1992 used the form, "That this House expresses the support for the economic policy of Her Majesty's Government." Such a motion may theoretically be introduced in the House of Lords, but, as the Government need not enjoy the confidence of that House, would not be of the same effect as a similar motion in the House of Commons; the only modern instance of such an occurrence involves the No Confidence Motion that was introduced in 1993, and subsequently defeated.

Many votes are considered votes of confidence, although not specifically involving the language mentioned above. Important bills that form part of the Government's agenda (as stated in the Speech from the Throne) are generally considered matters of confidence. The defeat of such a bill by the House of Commons indicates that a Government no longer has the confidence of that House. Furthermore, the same effect is achieved if the House of Commons "withdraws Supply," that is, rejects the Budget.

Where a Government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is obliged to either resign, or seek the dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. Where a Prime Minister has ceased to retain a majority in that vote and requests a dissolution, the Sovereign can in theory reject his request, forcing his resignation and allowing the Leader of the Opposition to be asked to form a new government. This power however is supposed to be used extremely rarely. The conditions that should be met to allow such a refusal are known as the Lascelles Principles. Note, however, that these conditions and principles are merely informal conventions; it is possible, though highly improbable, for the Sovereign to refuse a dissolution for no reason at all.

In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is very weak. Since the First-Past-the-Post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to enjoy a large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other parties. Modern British political parties are so tightly organised that they leave relatively little room for free action by their MPs. In many cases, MPs may be expelled from their parties for voting against the instructions of party leaders. During the twentieth century, the Government has lost confidence issues only thrice—twice in 1924, and once in 1979.

See also


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