page_title: R (Jackson) v Attorney General
section_title: House of Lords
hierarchical_section_title: R (Jackson) v Attorney General / Judgment / House of Lords
caption_attribution_description: English: The Houses of Parliament, seen across Westminster Bridge.
context_page_description: R (Jackson) v Attorney General [2005] UKHL 56 is a House of Lords case noted for containing obiter comments by the Judiciary acting in their official capacity suggesting that there may be limits to parliamentary sovereignty, the orthodox position being that it is unlimited in the United Kingdom.
  The case, brought by Jackson and two other members of the Countryside Alliance, challenged the use of the Parliament Acts to enact the Hunting Act 2004. The appellants claimed that the Parliament Act 1911 could not be used to pass the Parliament Act 1949 which amended the 1911 Act; the Hunting Act, which was passed only in accordance with the modified as opposed to the original requirements of the Parliament Acts procedure, was therefore invalid. The Divisional Court and Court of Appeal both rejected this claim, although the Court of Appeal held that Parliament Acts procedure could not be used to effect "fundamental constitutional changes". The case was appealed again to the House of Lords. In relation to preliminary issues, the court held that it had jurisdiction to examine the validity of the Hunting Act as a question of statutory interpretation; standing was not challenged.
context_section_description: The case was appealed again to the House of Lords, where it was heard by Lord Bingham, Lord Nicholls, Lord Steyn, Lord Hope, Lord Rodger, Lord Walker, Baroness Hale, Lord Carswell and Lord Brown on 13 and 14 July 2005. Nine judges were selected to hear the appeal, as opposed to the usual number of five, due to the significant constitutional issues the case raised.
caption: The Palace of Westminster, where the highest court in the United Kingdom, the House of Lords, sat until its judicial functions were transferred to the Supreme Court in 2009.
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