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Parliament

Last modified: Thu Feb 23 16:37:37 2006

Traditionally, Parliament was been a body convened by the monarch for the purpose of providing advice on specific crises. It was generally felt that Parliament should be representative of the population, but the notion of an elected parliament is a relatively recent one. Over the centuries many people have felt that a representative body has a stronger mandate to govern than a hereditary monarchy; nevertheless it required a civil war in England for this principle to be definitively established. The notion that Parliament is superior to the monarchy is set out in the BillOfRights and the ActOfSettlement1700. At present, the UK Parliament sitting at Westminster consists of the HouseOfLords the HouseOfCommons, and the monarch. There is also a Scottish Parliament that sits in Edinburgh. The Commons is the dominant House, with the power to introduce legislation against the objection of the Lords, but this has not always been the case. For the background to the power struggle between the Lords and the Commons see ParliamentAct1911.

The Houses of Parliament have conventionally defined their own rules of procedure, and courts are reluctant to intefere in such matters. Some procedures are defined in standing orders, or resolutions of the House, or rulings of the Speaker, but many are not: they are simply conventions which have come to be seen as binding.

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