In this article you will learn about the Judicial Review in Political Science.
Judicial Review
Judicial Review is almost an important feature of a state with a written constitution. In such a state, the written constitution is the supreme law of the land and it has to be protected against violations, and for this purpose the Judiciary is usually assigned the role to act as the guardian and interpreter of the constitution. The performance of this role requires the power to review all laws and regulations made by the legislature and the executive, for determining as to whether these are in conformity with the letter and spirit of the written constitution or not. If the Judiciary finds any such law or part of any law as unconstitutional, or opposed to the written constitution, it rejects the law or any of its part. If the judiciary finds it constitutional, the law continues to operate as before. This power of the judiciary is known as Judicial Review power. It is considered to be a fundamental feature of the constitutions of all liberal democratic states. It is regarded as an important guarantee for the protection of the constitution and the fundamental rights of the people.
Nature of Judicial Review : Features
- Judicial review is not an automatic Power of the judiciary. It is the power of the Judiciary which is exercised only during the course of a trial. It is not automatic in the sense that all statutes or acts of the legislature and executive do not automatically come before the Judiciary for Judicial review. These become operative the moment these are implemented. However, subsequently if any dispute arises involving any law and it is challenged, then the judiciary conducts Judicial review. The same can happen when any person or institution or association specifically challenges any law before the judiciary.
- While conducting Judicial Review, the Judiciary has to establish and give grounds for rejecting any law as unconstitutional.
- Judicial Review is conducted by a judicial bench and not by a single judge. The decision is always taken by a majority.
- The Judiciary has the power to invalidate any law or a part of the law which is held to be unconstitutional.
- The Judiciary refrains from giving decisions on political issues.
- The decision of the Judiciary becomes operative from the day it is delivered. In case a law is declared invalid, it ceases to operate for the future. The work which has been already done on its basis continues to stand. In case the law is found to be valid, it continues to operate as before.
- The Judicial Review is never advisory in nature.
- Due Process of Law or Procedure established by law two alternative bases for the conducting of Judicial Review.
Some Limitations on Judicial Review :
Mostly, the Judicial Review system works with following limitations :
- Judicial review is done only in actual cases before the courts. The courts cannot automatically use this power.
- The law can be declared invalid only after its unconstitutionality has been clearly established.
- The judiciary invalidated only those parts of the law which are found to be unconstitutional, other parts continue to operate as before.
- Courts do not exercise Judicial Review over political issues.
This article on Judicial Review in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.