“””The judges believe that Parliament, through the Human Rights Act, has given them a special role in protecting rights, particularly perhaps the rights of unpopular minorities. MPs, by contrast, believe that, as elected representatives accountable to the people, it is they and not the judges who should retain the last word on such matters.”” V Bogdanor, Imprisoned by a Doctrine: The Modern Defence of Parliamentary Sovereignty’ (2012) 32 OJLS 179′ Discuss, with reference to the above quote, whether parliamentary sovereignty is now at threat from the judiciary, citing relevant case-law in your answer. (64% Constitutional/Administrative Law, Year 1)”

Parliamentary sovereignty is one of the key principles of the British constitution and it means that supreme legal authority in the UK rests with Parliament as set out in the case of Pickin . In theory this means that Parliament can make, amend or repeal any law it wishes, although parliamentary sovereignty has many limits in practice as Lord Hope stated in Jackson  parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute. Especially in the past decade since the introduction of the HRA the judiciary has increasingly threatened parliamentary sovereignty, but it can be argued that parliamentary sovereignty is still supreme.

The Human Rights Act (HRA) is the statute which appears to given the judiciary this additional role in protecting rights. However, the judiciary previously had this role as rights were protected under the common law and since the HRA this role has not s…(short extract)