International Law Research; Vol. 10, No. 1; 2021 ISSN 1927-5234 E-ISSN 1927-5242 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Modernising the Constitution - A Parliament Act Graham McBain1,2 1 Peterhouse, Cambridge, UK 2 Harvard Law School, USA Correspondence: Graham McBain, 21 Millmead Terrace, Guildford, Surrey GU2 4AT, UK. E-mail:
[email protected] Received: January 6, 2021 Accepted: February 3, 2021 Online Published: February 12, 2021 doi:10.5539/ilr.v10n1p101 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ilr.v10n1p101 A previous article has looked at modernising the law on the Crown, see Modernising the Constitution - A Crown Act.1 This article looks at the same in respect of Parliament. It may be noted, from the outset, that the legislation - and common law - on Parliament, is much simpler and less complicated than that on the Crown. Indeed, a large amount of this legislation is administrative (mundane) in nature. Also, much is non-contentious, having given rise to little caselaw. Further, there is a compelling case for consolidation since there are, presently, c. 68 Acts relating to Parliament, but they contain only c. 280 sections and much of the same is obsolete or couched in antiquated language which is scarcely intelligible. Thus, the essential issues are the following: Consolidation of Parliamentary Legislation; Modernising Crown Prerogatives relating to Parliament. In the latter case, most Crown prerogatives are now obsolete - as reflects the position after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. And, the few worth retaining should be placed in legislation - in order to give greater consistency and coherency to the same.