Acts of Parliament
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Parliament is symbolic of the continuity of the state and the constitution and it is the arena in which acts of parliament are passed, it is also where the political drama of gocernment versus opposition unfolds. In addition to its symbolic and ritualistic roles, parliament has an important legitamising function. Britain has a parliamentary system of government. The political executive, the cabinet is recruited from and accountable to Parliament, and it is the consent of the majority in parliament legitimises the governments authority and converts acts of parliament into law. In order to understand parliament it is necessary to take account of the dominant part played by the political parties in the procedures and work of Westminster.
What are the functions and roles of parliament, is there a sense in which it can be said to have declined. How doe acts of parliament become statute. Here we hope to answer all these questions.
Parliament today does not make policy, that matter is for the executive, but it discusses policy. It also plays a debating role critisising and srutinising the policies and acts of the government and the law lords sitting in the house of lords under the Lord Chief Justice, constitute the highest court in the land. The development of parliament in its present form occured in two stages. In thefirst it asserted its independencevis-a-vis the crown, in the second , the house of commons became representative of the public at large trough election by universal suffrage.
During the seventeenth century the supremacy of the hiuse of commons over the lords in financial matters was asserted. The commons carried acts of parliament stating that the house of lords could not ammend finance bills. Practice conformed to the resolutions, although the principle was not formalised until the 1911 parliament act laid down that all money acts certified as such by the speaker of the commons should be presented by royal assent, regardless of the views of the house of lords.