Parliament is the supreme law-making body within it’s jurisdiction. Parliaments main function is too establish, debate and pass bills on behalf of the people that correctly reflects the values and views of the community. Numerous factors contribute to the parliamentary system as an effective law making body such as parliament is elected by the people and provides an area for debate however some factors weaken parliament as a law maker, these include the length it takes to make legislation and ability to delegate it’s powers.
A strength of parliament as a law-maker is that parliament is elected by the people is therefore responsible to address and respond too the needs of the people, as a result the legislative decisions that are made have been chosen based upon the needs of the people rather than an assumption of what would best. However, the needs of the people is based on the majority of society and not every individuals views will be represented as there are countless conflicting views in society. For example, the conflicting views of same-sex marriages.
This makes it impossible for parliament to address the needs of every individual. Another strength of parliament is that parliament can investigate a whole topic and make a comprehensive law. Parliament can then make a competent decision on how to correctly make the legislation to ensure that any need for changes in the law can be done quickly and efficiently. However, investigations are extremely time-consuming and as a result parliament may not be able to keep up with the changes in societies values as other issues also require parliaments attention; it can also be expensive.
One weakness of parliament as a law-maker is that the process of debate and the passage of a bill through parliament is a drawn-out process, as a result it is not possible to make instant amendments or progress to current legislation that needs changes quickly to keep up with societies needs. However, this does ensure that the legislation is thorough and reflect the views of parliament so that any necessary amendments can be made and as a result the legislation can be effectively applied to society. Therefore, whilst the process is lengthy, it ensures that statutes are fully deliberated and agreed upon by all members of parliament.
Another weakness of parliament is that it has the ability to delegate its law-making powers to bodies that aren’t elected by the people. These bodies include statutory authorities and local councils and are not responsible for or truly representations of the community as they have not been elected. However, many of these bodies have expertise knowledge in their areas of law and could efficiently make legislation relevant for the community, differing from parliament which may not have the required knowledge too create effective legislation.
It also ensures that these bodies can make legislation swiftly without going through the lengthy process that parliament endures of the passage of a bill. Parliament as a primary law maker successfully fulfills its role with many strengths and weaknesses. Parliament could be more responsive to the issues in society and although it is an effective law maker, it can be rather slow in keeping up to date with the values of the community that change on regular basis which can result in delegated bodies to resolve cases where legislation is needed to be made or altered.
