The Parliament Act 1949 (12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6 c. 103) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It reduced the power of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

to delay certain types of legislation – specifically public bills other than money bills – by amending the Parliament Act 1911. This Act is interpreted as one with the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

. This Act, and that Act, may be cited together as the " Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949".

Parliament Act 1911

The 1911 Act placed the relationship between the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

and

on a new footing, removing the power of the Lords to veto money bills. Other public bills could be delayed for up to two years. This two-year period meant that legislation introduced in the fourth or fifth years of a parliament could be delayed until after the next election, which could prove an effective measure to prevent its being passed. Specifically, two years had to elapse between the second reading in the House of Commons in the first session and the passing of the bill in the House of Commons in the third session.

Effects of 1949 Act

The 1949 Act amended the 1911 Act, reducing this delay to a single year. Section 2 defined the act's short title as the "Parliament Act 1949" and stated that the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 should be construed together as one under that name.

Legal challenge

In ''

Jackson v Attorney General ''R (Jackson) v Attorney General'' House of Lords case noted for containing obiter comments by the Judiciary acting in their official capacity suggesting that there may be limits to parliamentary sovereignty, the orthodox position being that it ...

'',

005 ''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...

UKHL 56,

4 All ER 1253. the validity of the Parliament Act 1949 was questioned because it used the 1911 Act to ensure its passage.Bradley, Ewing (2007). p. 68. The challenge asserted that the 1949 Act was delegated rather than primary legislation, and that the 1911 Act had delegated power to the Commons. If this were the case, then the Commons could not empower itself through the 1949 Act without direct permission from the Lords. Since it was passed under the 1911 Act, it had never received the required consent of the Lords.Barnett, Jago (2011). p. 445. However, the 1949 Act was found to be legal. It was concluded that the 1911 Act was not primarily about empowering the Commons, but rather was about restricting the ability of the Lords to affect legislation. This ruling also meant that efforts to abolish the House of Lords using the Acts could be successful, although the issue was not directly addressed in the ruling.Bradley, Ewing (2007). p. 74.

References

Case law

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parliament Act 1911 1949 in law Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom Parliament of the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1949 December 1949 events in the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning the House of Lords