Legal Sovereignty

Jennings, however, found this wholly unconvincing, countering that,

“legal sovereignty is not sovereignty at all. It is not supreme power. It is a legal concept, a form of expression which lawyers use to express the relations between Parliament and the courts. It means that the courts will always recognise as law the rules which Parliament makes by legislation; that is, rules made in the customary manner and expressed in the customary

form.” *P.L. 524 The legislative power of Parliament is thus “derived from the

law”, specifically, from the “common law”.It was this error on the part of Dicey, conceiving of Parliament as legally sovereign rather than holding legislative power derived from the law, which, according to Jennings, had led him to deduce, mistakenly, that Parliament was incapable of binding its successors. Jennings accepted that a true sovereign possessing supreme power could never be bound by his own acts, for a true sovereign can do anything at any time. Even if such a sovereign did purport to limit his own possibilities for future action, such as by “binding himself not to make laws except with the consent of an elected legislature”, he would nonetheless remain free to avoid any self-imposed restrictions onJennings, however, found this wholly unconvincing, countering that,

“legal sovereignty is not sovereignty at all. It is not supreme power. It is a legal concept, a form of expression which lawyers use to express the relations between Parliament and the courts. It means that the courts will always recognise as law the rules which Parliament makes by legislation; that is, rules made in the customary manner and expressed in the customary

form.” *P.L. 524 The legislative power of Parliament is thus “derived from the

law”, specifically, from the “common law”.

It

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