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Parliamentary sovereignty — SQE1 Public law question

A worked single-best-answer question on parliamentary sovereignty, with why each wrong option is wrong — the way SQE1 traps candidates.

Parliamentary sovereignty

The Harbour Redevelopment Act was passed by both Houses and received Royal Assent last year. It extinguished the fishing rights of a group of local families. Bethan, one of the families, has evidence that the Act's promoters deliberately misled the relevant parliamentary committee about the existence of those rights. She asks the High Court to declare the Act invalid, or at least inapplicable to her family, because Parliament was deceived.

Which of the following best describes how the court will respond to Bethan's claim?

  1. AThe court will investigate the allegation and disapply the Act if the deception is proved, because fraud unravels everything.
  2. BThe court will not investigate what happened in Parliament; once an Act appears on the parliamentary roll as duly passed, its validity cannot be questioned on the ground that Parliament was misled.
  3. CThe court will declare the Act incompatible with the rule of law but cannot strike it down.
  4. DThe court will refer the matter to the Supreme Court, which alone may examine the validity of Acts of Parliament.
  5. EThe court will set the Act aside as against Bethan's family only, because it was in substance a private Act.
Show answer and reasoning
B is the best answer. Under the enrolled Act rule, the courts will not inquire into the internal proceedings of Parliament to determine whether an Act was properly passed, even where it is alleged that Parliament was misled (Pickin v British Railways Board). This reflects parliamentary sovereignty and article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689, which protects proceedings in Parliament from being questioned in any court.

Rule: The courts will not investigate parliamentary proceedings to question the validity of an Act that appears on the roll as duly passed.

  • A The courts will not examine parliamentary proceedings to test an Act's validity, whatever the allegation. (wrong rule)
  • C There is no general power to declare an Act incompatible with the rule of law; declarations of incompatibility relate only to Convention rights. (wrong rule)
  • D No court, including the Supreme Court, may question the validity of a duly enrolled Act on this ground. (wrong rule)
  • E The rule in Pickin applied to a private Act; its private character does not allow the courts to look behind it. (wrong rule)

Source: Pickin v British Railways Board [1974] AC 765; Bill of Rights 1689, art 9

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