UPSC IAS exam preparation - India's Constitution - Lecture 3

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Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings

[हिंदी में पढ़ें ]

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"Swaraj will not be a free gift of the British Parliament; it will be declaration of India's full self expression. That it will be expressed through an Act of Parliament is true but it will be a courteous ratification of the declared wish of people of India even as it was in case of the Union of South Africa.”

Mahatma Gandhi

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The failure of the Statutory Commission and the Round Table Conference which led to the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935, to satisfy Indian aspirations accentuated the demand for a constitution made by the people of India without outside interference, which was officially asserted by the Congress in 1935. In 1938, Pandit Nehru definitively formulated his demand for a Constituent Assembly thus:

"The National Congress stands for independence and democratic state. It has proposed that the constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a constituent assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise."

2.0 THE EARLY EFFORTS

The process of making a constitution in India can be traced back to the arrival of Simon Commission in India which was appointed in 1927 British to review the constitutional arrangements for India and suggest changes. However no Indian was on this Commission which led to the "Simon Go Back" protests in India. The British Government gave the rationale that there was an enormous amount of disunity and disharmony amongst the various groups of India. Hence, Indians had not been included. The Secretary of State, Lord Birkenhead threw a challenge to the Indian leaders to draw up a constitution on which there would be an all party consensus.

2.1 THE NEHRU REPORT

In May 1928, an all Party Conference was held which appointed a committee to draft a scheme of the constitution. The members of the committee were M.S. Aney, Shuab Qureshi, Sardar Mangal Singh, G.R. Pradhan, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Sir Ali Iman and Subhashchandra Bose. The chairman of this committee was Motilal Nehru. Hence the name the Nehru Report.

The recommendations of the Nehru Committee were unanimous in nature except in one aspect - while the majority favoured the "dominion status" as the basis of the Constitution, a section of the leaders insisted on "complete independence".

The main recommendations of the Nehru Report were

1. The Nehru Report confined itself to British India. The linking up between British India and princely states would be done in the future. 
2. British India would function as a dominion of British India. 
3. There would be no separate electorates. This is deemed by historians as a reversal of the Lucknow Pact of 1916 which had laid the foundation for separate electorates. The Nehru Report  recommended  joint electorates with reservation of seats for Muslims at the centre and in provinces where they were in minority (and not in those where Muslims were in majority, such as Punjab and Bengal) in proportion to the Muslim population there. They also has had the right to contest additional seats.
4. British India will be divided into provinces on the basis of language. Later on, an Independent India adopted linguistic reorganization of states as a policy.
5. Nineteen fundamental rights were recommended including equal rights for women, right to form unions, and universal adult suffrage.
6. The Indian Parliament at the centre was to consist of a 500- member House of Representatives elected on the basis of adult suffrage and a 200-member Senate to be elected by provincial councils. The House of Representatives would have a tenure of 5 years and the Senate of seven years. 
7. The central government would be headed by a Governor-General, appointed by the British Government but paid out of Indian revenues. He would act on the advice of the central executive council responsible to the Parliament.
8. The Provincial councils would have a five - year tenure, headed by a governor acting on the advice of the provincial executive council.
9. Full protection would be given to cultural and religious interests of Muslims.
10. There would be a complete dissociation of state from religion.

In 1928, an All Parties Conference was convened in Calcutta to discuss and approve the Nehru Report. Jinnah suggested four amendments to the Report which are known as the Calcutta Amendments. One of the major amendments was that residuray powers should rest with the provinces. According to te Nehru Report, residuary powers should vest with the Federal Government. However these proposals were outvoted in the conference. Jinnah may have considered this as an insult to the Muslim community. There were many sections within the Indian mainstream who were opposed to various aspects of this report but they accepted it.

2.2 Jinnah’s 14 Points

In December 1927 a large number of Muslims leaders met in Delhi and evolved a set of basic demands that came to be known as the Delhi proposals. These were

1. Sind should be separated from Bombay and made an independent province.
2. Reforms should be introduced in Baluchistan and NWFP on the same footings as in any other province. In that case, Muslims are prepared to accept a joint electorate in all provinces so constituted, and are further willing to make to Hindu minorities in Sind, Balochistan and the NWFP, the same concessions that Hindu majorities in the other provinces are prepared to make to Muslim minorities.
3. In the Punjab and Bengal the proportion of representation should be in accordance with the population. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than a third, and that also, by a mixed electorate.

Over a period of time a large number of demands had been made by various Muslim groups for reservations in the local self governing bodies and provincial councils.

Jinnah combined all the above three and in a meeting of the Muslim League put forth his 14 points. These were

1. The form of the future constitution should be federal, with the residuary powers vested in the provinces.
2. Uniform measure of autonomy shall be guaranteed to all provinces.
3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.
4. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one third.
5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present, provided it shall be open to any community at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favour of a joint electorate.
6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority.
7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.
8. No bill or resolution or any part thereof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected body if three fourths of the members of any community in that particular body oppose it as being injurious to the interests of that community or in the alternative, such other method is devised as may be found feasible and practicable to deal with such cases.
9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan on the same footing as in the other provinces.
11. Provision should be made in the constitution giving Muslims an adequate share, along with the other Indians, in all the services of the state and in local self-governing bodies having due regard to the requirements of efficiency.
12. The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion, personal laws and Muslim charitable institutions and for their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the state and by local self-governing bodies.
13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one-third Muslim ministers.
14. No change shall be made in the constitution by the Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the State's contribution of the Indian Federation.

2.3 Differences between Nehru Report (NR) and Jinnah's 14 points (JFP)

There were some points of agreement in both (Separation of Sind from Bombay) and many points of disagreement. The major disagreements were:

1. The Nehru report (NR) rejected the idea of separate electorates for minorities. However Jinnah's 14 points (JFP) demanded separate electorates for various communities.
2. The NR recommended 1/4th representation for Muslims at the Centre. The JFP demanded 1/3rd representation at the Centre.
3. According to the NR there would be reserved seats for communities in Bengal and Punjab. However, reserved seats would be provided to Muslims communities in provinces where Muslim population was at least 10%. The JFP however demanded that adequate representation should be given to Muslims in all provinces; even if the population was less than 10%. The Delhi proposals had recommended that in non Muslim majority areas 1/3rd of the seats in the provincial assemblies should be reserved for Muslims and in Muslim majority areas, the number of seats reserved should be in proportion to the population. 
4. Besides these JFP had many demands; for example a certain percentage of the Ministers in all cabinets also to be Muslims which was not recommended by the NR; which led to a lot of conflicts between the two reports.

One more point that should be noted was there were differences within both the Congress and the Muslim League. A section of the Congress felt that acceptance of Dominion Status by the NR after the demand for complete Independence had been made in 1927 was a step down. Prominent among these leaders were Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Though none of these efforts could materialize into a Constitution for India, they did lay the ground for our constitution and hinted at a broad framework within which India will be governed.

3.0 Cripps Mission

The demand for a Constituent Assembly was resisted by the British Government until the outbreak of World War II when external circumstances forced them to realize the urgency of solving the Indian constitutional problem. In March 1942, when Japanese troops were at the doors of India, they sent Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the cabinet with a draft declaration on the proposals of the British Government which were to be adopted (at the end of the war) provided the two major political parties (Congress and Muslim league) could come to an agreement to accept them.

The proposals were:

1. That the constitution of India was to be framed by an elected Constituent Assembly of the Indian people
2. That the Constitution should give India Dominion status, i.e. equal partnership of the British Commonwealth of Nations
3. That there should be One Indian union comprising all the provinces and Indian States but
4. That any province (of Indian state) which was not prepared to accept the constitution would be free to retain its constitutional position existing at the time and with such non-acceding provinces the British Government could enter into separate constitutional arrangements.

But the two parties failed to come to an agreement to accept the proposals, and the Muslim League urged

1. That India should be divided into two autonomous states on communal lines, and that some of the provinces, earmarked by Mr. Jinnah, should form an independent Muslim state, to be known as Pakistan;
2. That instead of one Constituent Assembly there should be two Constituent Assemblies, i.e., a separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan.

4.0 Cabinet Delegation

After the rejection of the Cripps proposal (followed by the dynamic 'Quit India' campaign launched by the Congress), various attempts to reconcile the two parties were made including the Simla conference held at the instance of the Governor-General, Lord Wavell. These having failed, the British government sent three of its own members including Cripps himself, to make another serious attempt. But the cabinet delegation too failed in making the two parties come to an agreement and were, accordingly, obliged to put forward their own proposals, which were announced simultaneously in India and in England on 16th May, 1946.

The broad features of the scheme were

1. There would be a Union of India, comprising both British India and the states, and having jurisdiction over the subjects of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communications. All residuary powers would belong to provinces and States.
2. The Union would have an Executive and a Legislature consisting of the representatives of the Provinces and States. But any question raising a major communal issue in legislature would require for its decision a majority of representatives of the two major communities present and voting as well as a majority of all the members present and voting.

The Province would be free to form Groups with executives and legislatures, and each group would be competent to determine the provincial subject as which would be taken up by the Group organization.

4.1 H.M.G.'S Statement of December 6, 1946

The scheme laid down by the Cabinet Mission was, however, recommendatory, and it was contemplated by the Mission that it would be adopted by agreement between the two major parties. A curious situation, however, arose after an election for forming the Constituent Assembly was held. The Muslim League joined the election and its candidates were returned. But a difference of opinion had in the meantime arisen between the Congress and the League regarding the interpretation of the 'Grouping clause' of the proposal of the cabinet mission. The British Government intervened at this stage, and explained to the leaders in London that they upheld the contention of the League as correct, and on December 6, 1946, the British Government published the following statement

"Should a constitution come to be framed by Constituent Assembly in which a large section of the Indian population had not been represented, His Majesty's Government would not contemplate forcing such a constitution upon any unwilling part of country."

For the first time, thus the British Government acknowledged the possibility of two Constituent Assemblies and two States.

4.2 H.M.G.'S Statement of February 20, 1947

The Muslim league urged for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of India on the ground that it was not fully representative of all sections of the people of India. On the other hand the British Government, by their statement of the 20th February, 1947, declared:

1. That British rule in India would in any case end by June 1948, after which the British would certainly transfer authority to Indian hands;
2. That if by that time a fully representative Constituent Assembly failed to work out a constitution in accordance with the proposal made by the Cabinet Delegation, then H.M.G. will have to consider to whom the power of the central government in British India should be handed over, on the due date, whether as a whole to some form of Central Government for British India, or in some areas to existing Provincial Government, or in such other way as seems most reasonable and in the best interest of Indian people. 

The result was inevitable and the league did not consider it necessary to join this assembly, and went on pressing for another Constituent Assembly for Muslim India.

The British government next sent Lord Mountbatten to India as the Governor-General, in place of Lord Wavell, in order to expedite the preparation for transfer of power for which the government had fixed a rigid time limit. Lord Mountbatten brought the Congress and the League in definite agreement that the two 'problem' provinces of Punjab and Bengal would be partitioned so as to form absolute Hindu and Muslim majority blocks within these Provinces. The League would then get its  Pakistan-which the Cabinet Mission had so ruthlessly denied - minus Assam, East Punjab and West Bengal, while the Congress which was taken as the representative of the people of India Other than the Muslims would get the rest of India where the Muslims were in minority.

5.0 The Mountbatten Plan (June 3, 1947)

The future of India was given a  formal shape by a statement made by British Government on June 3, 1947, which provided, inter alia, that "The Provincial Legislative Assembly of Bengal and the Punjab (excluding European members) will, therefore, each be asked to meet in two parts, one representing the Muslim majority district and the other the rest of the province… The members of the two parts of the Legislative assembly sitting separately will be empowered to vote whether or not the province should be partitioned. If a simple majority of either part decides in favor of partition, division will take place and arrangements will be made accordingly. If partition were decided upon, each part of the Legislative Assembly would decide, on behalf of the areas it represents, whether it would join the existing or a new and separate Constituent Assembly."

On the 26th July 1947, the Governor-General announced the setting up of a separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan. The plan of June 3 1947, having been carried out, nothing stood in the way of effecting the transfer of power by amending the statute of the British Parliament in accordance with the declaration.

6.0 The Indian Independence Act, 1947

The British Parliament lost no time to  draft the Indian Independence bill upon the basis of the above plan, and the bill was passed and placed on the Statute Book, with amazing speed, as the Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 &11 Geo. VI, c. 30). The bill, which was introduced in parliament on July 4, received the Royal Assent on July 18, 1947, and came into force from that date.

The most outstanding characteristic of the Indian Independence act was that while other acts of Parliament relating to the Government of India (such as the Government of India Act from 1858 to 1935) sought to lay down a constitution for governance of India by the legislative will of the British Parliament, this Act of 1947 did not lay down any such constitution. The Act provided that as from the 15th August, 1947(which date is referred to in the act as the 'appointed day'), in place of India as defined in the Government of India Act 1935, there would be set up two independent Dominions, to be known as India and Pakistan, and the Constituent Assembly of each dominion to have unlimited power to frame and adopt any constitution and to repeal any act of British Parliament including the Indian Independence Act.

Under the Act, the dominion of India got the residuary territory of India excluding the Provinces of Sindh, Baluchistan, west Punjab, east Bengal, and North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and the district of Sylhet in Assam (which had voted in favour of Pakistan at a referendum, before the Act came into force).

7.0 The Constituent Assembly of India

The Constituent Assembly which had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on the 9th December, 1946, reassembled on the 14th August 1947, as the Sovereign Constituent assembly for dominion of India.

As to its composition, it should be remembered that it had been elected by indirect election by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies.  The Constituent Assembly of India was formed by the elected members of the provincial assemblies of the country. 

Scheme of election of members to the Constituent Assembly

1. Each Province and each Indian state or group of states were allotted the total number of seats proportional to their respective populations roughly in the ratio of one to a million. As a result the provinces were to elect 296 members while the Indian states were allotted 93 seats.
2. The seats in each province were distributed among three main communities, Muslims, Sikh and General, in proportion to their respective population.
3. Members of each community in the provincial legislative assembly elected their own representative by the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote.

Presided over by Dr. Sachidanand Sinha for the first time, the Indian Constituent Assembly played the most important role in creating the Constitution of India. After Dr. Sinha, Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the President of the Assembly. Comprising over 30 scheduled class members, the Constituent Assembly also included sections of Christians, Anglo-Indians and the minority community. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, being the Minority Community Chairman, also successfully worked for the Christians. While H P Modi was the representative of the Parsi community, Frank Anthony headed the Anglo-Indian section of the country in the Constituent Assembly. 

Some of the prominent female personalities of the Constituent Assembly were Vijaylakshmi Pandit and Sarojini Naidu. From Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, B N Rau and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad to K M Munshi, Sardar Patel and Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyer, each one had a major contribution towards the present form of the Constituent Assembly. 

On 29th August, 1947 a Drafting Committee, with Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman, was formed on the basis of the various reports submitted by the previous committees. It was in the year 1948 that a Draft Constitution including a range of proposals was formed by the concerned committee. The Constituent Assembly of India held two meetings in February 1948 and October 1949 to go through the clauses of the Draft. Finally, from 14th to 26th of November, 1949 the Constituent Assembly analyzed each and every provision of the Draft. The then President of the Constituent Assembly of India signed the Draft on November 26th, 1949. 

8.0 Preamble of the Indian constitution

Preamble of Indian Constitution was basically constructed in order to fulfill the dream of Mahatma Gandhi, that is, to create the India of his dreams. The Indian Constitution Preamble is used for interpreting some of the ambiguous portions of the Indian Constitution. The Preamble of Indian Constitution is considered to be a part of the Constitution of India after the orders of the Supreme Court.

The main purposes of having a Preamble of Indian Constitution are:

1. The Preamble of Indian Constitution refers to the source that is responsible for the authority of the Constitution.
2. The Preamble of Indian Constitution also states the objectives of the Indian Constitution. 
3. The Preamble, is considered to be one of the most significant parts of the Constitution of India. Focusing on the main objective of the Indian Constitution, the Preamble includes the four objectives—Equality, Justice, Fraternity and Liberty. 

Significance of these four objectives is discussed below:

Equality – this implies equal opportunity for one and all

Justice – this ensures fair judgment in the fields of politics, society and economy

Fraternity – this aims in maintaining the integrity and strength of the country along with special stress on individual dignity

Liberty – this assures every citizen of India the freedom of speech and expression and religious independence 

The Preamble, as it is presented in the Constitution of India, is quoted below:

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this Twenty-Sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION." 

8.1 Explanation of the Preamble

The enacting words "We, the people of India… in our constituent assembly… do here by adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution", signifies the democratic principle that power is ultimately vested in the hands of the people of the country. It also emphasizes the fact that the constitution is made by, and for the people of India and not given to them by any power outside the country.

Sovereign: The word sovereign means independent. India is internally and externally sovereign - internally, it has a government elected directly by the people and externally, it is free from the control of any foreign power.

Socialist: The word socialist implies that the government has control over the economy. The government will endeavor to equally distribute the wealth and provide a decent standard of living for all the citizens. As a socialist country, our country emphasizes on a commitment towards the formation of a welfare state.

Secular: The word secular implies equality of all religions and religious tolerance in the country. Every person has the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion he/she chooses. The government should not favour or discriminate against any religion in the country. All citizens are equal in the eyes of law irrespective of their religious beliefs.

Democratic: India is a democratic country. The people of India can elect their governments at all levels local, state or central. Irrespective of the caste, creed, colour, sex, religion or education, every Indian above 18 years can cast their vote to elect their leader.

Our democratic system gives chance for every competent person to join the Parliament. It states that no person is greater than the ruling system. Our Democratic system emphasizes on a multi-party system, unlike China and North Korea etc., which are single-party states.

Republic: In a monarchy, the head of the state is appointed on hereditary basis for a lifetime. But a democratic republic is an entity in which the head of the state is elected, directly or indirectly by the people for a fixed tenure. Moreover, there are some countries which are republic but not democratic such as China and Myanmar. There are some countries which are democratic but not republic such as UK, Australia, The Kingdom of Sweden etc.

On 18 December 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Indira Gandhi  government pushed through several changes in the 42nd amendment of the constitution. A committee under the chairmanship of Sardar Swaran Singh recommended that this amendment be enacted after being constituted to study the question of amending the constitution in the light of past experience. Through this amendment the words "socialist" and "secular" were added between the words "sovereign" and "democratic" and the words "unity of the Nation" were changed to "unity and integrity of the Nation".

Amending the preamble: The question whether the preamble of the Constitution can be amended or not was raised in the Keshavanda Bharati case. The Supreme Court observed that the preamble is a part of the Constitution and hence is liable to amendment as given in Article 368 of the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court also observed that the no amendment can be made which alters the basic features of the Constitution.

The Constitution of India was drafted over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 17 days.

The Parliamentary form of Government of India was first introduced by the Constitution of the nation. Consisting of the President, the Parliament of India has two Houses namely Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The President leads the Executive of the Union as the Constitutional head. The Prime Minister heads the Council of Ministers as per the Article 74(1) of the Indian Constitution. The 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India indicates that the legislative powers are shared by both the State Legislatures and the Parliament of India. 

9.0 SCHEDULES TO INDIAN CONSTITUTION

 

Schedules to the Constitution of India can be added through the amendments to it. The twelve schedules to the Constitution of India, which are effective at present, are given below:

1. First Schedule: This schedule is about the States and Union Territories of India.
2. Second Schedule: In this Schedule, provisions are made regarding the President and the Governors of States, Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of the People, the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Council of States, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council of a State, the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts and the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
3. Third Schedule: Forms of Oaths or Affirmations are mentioned in this Schedule.
4. Fourth Schedule: This Schedule specifies the allocation of seats in the Council of States.
5. Fifth Schedule: Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes are mentioned in this Schedule. The amendment of the schedule is also included in the Part D of the Schedule.
6. Sixth Schedule: This Schedule deals with the provisions as to the Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
7. Seventh Schedule: The List I or the Union List, List II or the State List and List III or the Concurrent List are included in this Schedule.
8. Eighth Schedule: The 22 languages selected as the official languages of India are mentioned in this Schedule.
9. Ninth Schedule: Validation of certain Acts and Regulations is dealt with in this Schedule.
10. Tenth Schedule: Provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection for the Members of Parliament and Members of the State Legislatures are mentioned in this Schedule.
11. Eleventh Schedule: This Schedule talks about the powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats.
12. Twelfth Schedule: Powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities are defined in this Schedule.

10.0 Sources of the Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India is by no means an original document. The makers though it best to go through constitution of different countries in force at that time, select the relevant parts and modify them according to the need of the hour. The following are the major inspirations in the Indian Constitution:

1. Russian revolution 1917: Ideal of Justice – Social, Educational, Economic and Political  
2. French revolution 1789 to 1799: Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite) 
3. From the GOI Act 1935: Federal structure, Office of Governor, Judiciary, Public Service commission, Emergency, Administrative details
4. British constitution: Parliamentary form of government, Rule of law, legislation, single citizenship, Collective responsibility and writs and Bicameralism
5. US constitution: Fundamental rights, Independent judiciary, judicial review, Impeachment of President, Removal of Supreme Court judges, Vice Presidential-ship
6. Irish Constitution: Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), nomination of members to Rajya Sabha, Electoral office and method of Presidential election
7. Canada (pure federal country): Federation with strong centre, Residuary power with centre, Appointment of state governors by centre
8. Australia: Concurrent list, Freedom of trade, Commerce and inter state trade, Joint Sitting of Parliament
9. USSR: Fundamental duties, Preamble
10. South Africa: Procedure for Constitutional amendments, election of members to the Rajya Sabha
11. Japan: Procedures established by law
12. Weimar constitution of Germany: Suspension of fundamental rights during emergency

New Zealand is one of only three countries in the world with an uncodified, 'unwritten' constitution (Israel and the UK are the others). This is a flexible, organic construction that changes over time. Parts of it are written, but they are not found in any one document. It is not entrenched, and Parliament (rather than the constitution) is sovereign. Most experts agree that the courts do not have the power of judicial review.

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