Parliamentary Supremacy - parliament as the supreme law-making body, consisting of the monarch, the House of Lords and the House of Commons

Courts can also make law but must oblige to laws created by parliament above any made by a court. Courts were once the primary source for laws but now if parliament was to pass an act of parliament that changed the common law (a law made by a judge) judges must oblige to the act when deciding cases.

In some cases parliament will give other organizations such as government ministers of local authorities the right to create binding legislation. For instance a local authority such as a council may create legislation specific to that area because of a local problem. These laws are known as ‘delegated legislation’. However this does not affect parliamentary supremacy since the legal entitlement to make law can be altered or taken away altogether by parliament.

The idea that the house of lords has less power than parliament is clearly shown in the fact that when parliament want to have an act passed it must be discussed in the house of lords first and although the house of lords can ask for amendments to be made or even the act to be delayed from being passed for a maximum time of 12 months they cannot reject an act completely and after the 12 months the act will simply bypass the house of lords and go direct to the monarch. The monarch is actually more of a formality since an act cannot be rejected by the monarch, which again shows the supremacy of parliament.

There is one major limitation on the parliaments supremacy, this is that any laws which conflict with EU law will be void in a case and EU law will always take precedence over any laws made by parliament. Although an act cannot be rendered void by the house of lords of the monarch acts can be voted out, either by the same government or any latter government in power.

Parliamentary supremacy in its simplicity means that any act could be passed, regardless of how ridiculous or how much the public hates it. Parliament is only governed by laws passed by the EU.