Parliamentary supremacy is the absolute or unlimited powers of a Parliament to make, change or repeal any legislation whether previous or current i.e. the overall supremacy of the Parliament over other agencies of the state whether the executive arm or judicial arm. It is referred to as first among equals i.e. first authority of the state.
Nigeria evolved out of the archaic British parliamentary system where the crown was the overall constitutional authority in the state which abounded since the 12th and 13th century. This developed up until the 16th century where the crown could make laws. Here, the Parliament was side-lined until the unlimited power of the crown to make laws was transferred to the British parliament to make laws and the powers of the crown became a ceremonial power. This sum up the origin of the British parliament.
Right from time immemorial, the British govt has always practiced parliamentarism which harbours fusion of power as there is a nexus between the arms of govt e.g. till 2009, House of Lords was the apex court to decide a case in the UK. Here, judicial and legislative seemingly fused together.
Meanwhile, some key elements have neutralized the supremacy of the Parliament overtime:
These 3 key elements neutralizes the supremacy of the English Parliament over other arms of govt. Thus, the British parliament can be said to be an obsolete practice but however, it is still in practice in countries like Israel, New Zealand, Finland, etc. even though the doctrine is going into extinction already.
CONSTITUTIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
Constitution is the font et origo of all other laws in the society. The constitution is supreme because it defines the establishment of a state. The constitution defines the structure of a state as established in section 2(2) of the constitution. The constitution provides for power of a sovereign state. Here the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arm of a state derive their power from the constitution where section 4 provides for power of the legislature to make laws and their power to make laws “appear” unrestrained.
Section 4(8) makes the power of the legislature limited because their decision is justifiable i.e. their decision is subject to judicial review. This is a constitutional dichotomy between Parliamentary supremacy and constitutional supremacy.
Section 214 provides for powers of the police to enforce laws, section 217 provides for powers of armed forces to defend the country against territorial disintegration.
From all these, it can be deduced that the constitution is supreme and gives power to individuals and agencies of the state. The constitution is supreme because every law made either nationally or within small agencies proceeds from the constitution. The constitution is supreme to the extent that it provides for all the power in the state.
The dichotomy of parliamentary supremacy and constitutional supremacy is that the decisions of the parliament in a state with parliamentary supremacy is not subject to judicial review WHILE the decisions of parliament in a state with constitutional supremacy is subject to judicial review.
Hence, the above points are reasons why the parliamentary is not supreme in a state where we have a written constitution.
Section 14(2) (a) is key to the constitutional sovereignty of the state. Here, the sovereignty that the constitution has flows from the people. This is reaffirmed through the people’s power (national assembly).
Question
Why has the constitution been supreme to Parliament in many countries of the world historically?
Answer
The English state was the only reigning super power in the world prior to 13th and 14th century. This made the idea of parliamentary supremacy spread like wild fire. As a matter of fact, Britain colonized America. The idea of constitutional supremacy started from modern America which has become the world power. America gained independence in 1776. Hence America went on to establish and popularize the fact that power belong to the people.
In the same vein, the French revolution of 1799 and the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was in contention with the idea of supremacy and antagonised dictatorship.
From all these it can be deduced that parliamentary supremacy is taking back seat while constitutional supremacy has become more vast continually.