"The fact that the most arbitrary powers of the English executive must always be exercised under Act of Parliament places the government, even when armed with the widest authority, under the supervision, so to speak, of the Courts. Powers, however extraordinary, which are conferred or sanctioned by statute, are never really unlimited, for they are confined by the words of the Act itself, and, what is more, by the interpretation put upon the statute by the judges. Parliament is supreme legislator, but from the moment Parliament has uttered its will as lawgiver, that will becomes subject to the interpretation put upon it by the judges of the land."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from EnglandLawyers from EnglandUniversity of Oxford facultyUniversity of Oxford alumniJudges from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 409
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._V._Dicey
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
A. V. Dicey
Albert Venn Dicey (February 4, 1835 – April 7, 1922) was a British jurist and constitutional theorist who wrote An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885). The principles it expounds are considered part of the uncodified British constitution.
17 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by A. V. Dicey →
Related Quotes
"Macaulay, Mill and Burke are I believe the three authors to whom as far as I can judge I owe more than to any other t…"
"When a body of twenty or two thousand or two hundred thousand men bind themselves together to act in a particular way…"
"The rule of law, as described in this treatise, remains to this day a distinctive characteristic of the English const…"
"The principle of Parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely, that Parliament thus define…"
"Foreign observers of English manners, such for example as Voltaire, De Lolme, Tocqueville, or Gneist, have been far m…"
"Modern Englishmen may at first feel some surprise that the "rule of law" (in the sense in which we are now using the …"
"Our constitution, in short, is a judge-made constitution, and it bears on its face all the features, good and bad, of…"
"All that necessarily results from an analysis of our institutions, and a comparison of them with the institutions of …"
"Acts therefore which would not be justifiable in protection of a person's own property, may often be justified as the…"
"A story told of that eminent man and very learned judge, Mr. Justice Willes, and related by an ear-witness, is to the…"