Legitimacy

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  • Created by: Launston
  • Created on: 11-05-14 10:13
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  • Legitimacy
    • People's belief that they ought to comply with a law AND a claim by institutions of the state that their determinations ought to be complied with
    • Political Constitutionalism
      • Power and the making of law is and should be legitimized through Parliament
      • General elections give the government authority
        • Accountability of officials through questions and ministerial responsibility
      • Parliamentary Supremacy
        • Acts are highest form of law in UK - courts cannot set them aside
      • Majoritarianism
        • Major decisions should be made in Parliament - should be well equipped for debates
      • Judicial scepticism
        • Judges are not representative - conservative bias
    • Legal Constitutionalism
      • Courts are keys to creating conditions under which government power is limited
      • Parliamentary supremacy is weak as government controls parliament
        • No guarantee for rights of minorities
      • Democracy is about insisting on the protection of rights that protect individual liberty
      • Claim that demise of Parliamentary Supremacy would transfer power to unelected judiciary is misleading
        • Spheres of legislature and judiciary are distinct
          • Courts role is to see whether democracy has been infringed by other branches of government
        • Last word would only pass on issue of whether legislature has overused powers
          • Courts would still have limits when adjudicating
    • Is 'constitutionalism' useful?
      • Discussion does not appear in Appeal Court or textbooks
      • Three different purposes
        • Fills void by absence of constitutional theory
        • Absent constitutional document
        • Umbrella term to cover settlement between judiciary, parliament and government or concepts such as rule of law
          • In the UK it consists of: concentrates public power in one institution, government organised by majority rule, government held to account
            • Defines purpose of public power

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