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ua Parliament [Chapter [] and imprisonment may be More, than what the needs of the case may call for and in case of Corpo. rations, fines are the only form of punishment which can be imposed. In the light of the above, it may be worthwhile for a Parliamentary Committee to study the priyj, leges of the Legislatures in India and formulate some norms and guidelines for being followed by the various Houses in this area,!2 M. SUPREMACY OF THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT (a) SUPREMACY OF BRITISH PARLIAMENT The keystone, the dominant characteristic, of the British Constitution is the doctrine of ‘sover. eignty’ or “supremacy” of Parliament. This means that Parliament has the ‘right to make Or unmake any law whatever;” that it can “legally legislate on any topic whatever which, in the judgment of Parliament, is a fit subject for legislation,” that no person or body in Britain has a right to override or set aside a law of Parliament, that courts have no jurisdiction to declare an Act of Parliament void, ultra vires or ‘unconstitutional’, and that there is “no power which, under the English Constj. tution, can come into rivalry with the legislative sovereignty of Parliament.””” Parliament is no, regarded as a delegate of the people and it is not legally bound by any mandate. The British Consti- tution is not written and there is nothing like a fundamental law of the country. Therefore, the pow- er of Parliament to legislate is legally unrestricted, and it can change even a constitutional principle by the same ordinary process as it enacts an ordinary law. Politically, however, Britain has a responsible government with an elected House of Commons which reflects contemporary public opinion, social morality or consciousness. Parliament does not therefore ordinarily do anything which a large number of people oppose.'* But from a legal, ‘and not political, point of view there is no fetter or restraint on the British Parliament to make any law, Whatever Parliament enacts as law is law and its validity is not subject to any higher principles or morality, national or international law. Britain has no doctrine of unconstitutionality of parliamentary legislation and a law enacted by Parliament cannot be questioned or challenged in a court on any ground. The function of the courts is primarily to interpret the law enacted by Parliament and apply it to the factual situations coming be- fore them for adjudication. The courts are not to scrutinise a law with reference to any fundamental norm, although, in the process of statutory interpretation, the courts do bring in certain concepts of their own and interpret the law accordingly. When the courts are faced with several alternative inter- pretations of a statutory provision, they would adopt the view which appears to them to be fair and just and it may be that, at times, the judicially-adopted alternative may not accord with what Parliament wanted to enact. While the courts do not enjoy the power to declare an Act of Parliament to be invalid they certainly have the power to interpret the same! ‘ (b) EFFECT OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW It may however be observed that the entry of Britain in the European Common Market has somewhat compromised the traditional concept of sovereignty of Parliament. The’ British’ Parlia- ment has enacted the European Communities Act, 1972, making European Community Law, auto- 12. For further comments on this aspect, see, Jain, PARLIMENTARY PRIVILEGES & THE PRESS, 102-112. 13. DICEY: LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION, 39-40, 70 (1965), JENNINGS, LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION, 57, 144 (1959); HEUSTON, ESSAYS IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, 1 (1964); SCHWARTZ, AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, 49 (1965), WADE and PHILLIPS, op. cit., 65-83; DE SMITH, CONSTITUTION AL & ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, 63-93 (1977). 14. In the modern state there exist organized interest groups reflecting the views of every trade, pro- fession or business. This has led to the practice of prior consultation before a measure is intto- duced in Parliament. Neither Government nor Parliament can disregard organised publi¢ opinion in promoting legislation and thus the political supremacy of Parliament, distinct from its’ on- ni-competence, as a law making organ, has become more and more unreal. All legislation is a compromise of conflicting interests. JENNINGS observes, “Parliament passes many laws which many people do not want. But it never passes any law which any substantial section of the popula- tion violently dislikes.” JENNINGS, op. cit., 148. Also, DE SMITH, op. cit., 90; WADE, INTRODUCTION TO DICEY'S LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION, IXVii, ixx. 15. JENNINGS, PARLIAMENT, 1-12 (1970), KEIR and LAWSON, Cases in Const, LAW, 1 (1979); CF. GRAY, ‘SOVEREIGNTY OF PARLIAMENT TO-DAY, 10 Univ. of Toronto LJ. 54 (1053-54), Also see infra, Ch. XL. 
