§ 6.23 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SIMON rose to ask Her Majesty's Government, with reference to the Draft Self-Government Statute for the Sudan, which is printed on pages 18 to 45 of Cmd. Paper 8767, whether the Parliament therein contemplated has the power to amend the Self-Government Statute, and whether the Judiciary created by the Statute has power to determine or to pronounce upon the validity of legislation passed by the Parliament. The noble and learned Viscount said: My Lords, I wish to put the Question standing in my name, merely for the purpose of obtaining information. I would observe that as a rule when you find that a new Parliament is being created under British auspices you have only to examine the document to see what are the powers which are conferred upon the Parliament but if you look at the Draft Self-Government Statute for the Sudan, you will find, I think, that while it contains elaborate provision as to the composition of the two Houses and various other matters, it does not contain any statement of what the powers of the Legislature are to be. It makes a great difference whether the Legislature is one which has power to alter its own statutory structure or whether it is purely a Legislature which has power to pass laws about other things. In particular, since in this case a Judiciary is created, I think it is useful to inquire whether the Judiciary has the power and the duty to judge whether or not a particular law passed by the Sudan Parliament is within their powers. That, of course, is the case where only a limited power of legislation exists, and where, therefore, the question may arise as to whether a piece of legislation exceeds the limits. Those are the reasons why I put these questions. I expect that my noble friend can give me a clear and authoritative answer to both of them.
840§ 6.25 p.m.
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, as regards the first part of the noble and learned Viscount's Question, with respect to the power to amend the Self-Government Statute, he will see that provision for amendment of the Draft Self-Government Statute is contained in Article 101 of the Statute. That Article states that the Governor-General may, if so requested by a joint Resolution, which, in turn, has to be carried by a three-quarters majority at a joint sitting of both Houses, by order revoke, modify or extend all or any of the provisions of the Statute. Under Article 6 (b) of the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement—the recent Agreement—the Governor-General is directly responsible to the two Governments as regards any change in the Statute requested by the Sudanese Parliament under Article 101 of the Self-Government Statute. That applies to major rectifications. Minor rectifications are dealt with in the second subsection of Article 101, and can be carried out by the Governor-General on his own authority.
As regards the powers of the courts, the Statute has no specific provision empowering the Judiciary to pronounce upon the validity of legislation passed by the Parliament. It would, in our view, clearly be open to anyone to contest in the courts the application of any particular piece of legislation on the ground that it was ultra vires. I hope that that reply covers the noble and learned Viscount's two points.
§ VISCOUNT SIMONMy Lords, I thank the noble Marquess very much for his very clear answer.
§ House adjourned at twenty-seven minutes past six o'clock