Parliamentary sovereignty

Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. It also holds that the legislative body may change or repeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law (in some cases, not even a constitution) or by precedent.

In some countries, parliamentary sovereignty may be contrasted with separation of powers, which limits the legislature's scope often to general law-making and makes it subject to external judicial review, where laws passed by the legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances. However, in such countries the legislative body still retains the sovereignty by the possibility to alter the constitution, which usually requires greater majority, often 2/3 of votes instead of 1/2.

States that have sovereign legislatures include: the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Jamaica.

in Israel, the sovereignty of the legislatures was implied, but contested by the courts over the last 30 years. In 2023, the Israeli legislator wanted to solidify their sovereignty in a constitutional law. However, it was blocked on 01.01.2024 by the Supreme Court. The ruling mandated 2 rulings, first the court can block any law or amendment, if the court deems it unreasonable. The second was the blocking of the amendment limiting the power of un-reasonability from courts, when it comes to the government. giving the court supremacy over the other branches. The following month Moody's Investors Service lowered Israel's credit from A1 to A2 stating "wider consequences materially raise political risk for Israel as well as weaken its executive and legislative institutions and its fiscal strength, for the foreseeable future."