Overview of the Organisation of Parliament (Speaker, Praesidium, Committees, Factions and the Opposition)

The following chapter provides a better understanding of the functioning, internal organisation and compositional organs of parliaments. First and foremost, Parlia­ment is usually self-governing.

In the subsections ahead, we will take a comparative look at selective, yet representative clauses regarding the speaker of parliament, the committees, the presidium and the opposition, as well as their qualifications and functions. The importance of such derives from the fact that a well-functioning Parliament has to

An introductory video can be found on www.writingconstitutions.com and on https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-030-94602-9_1.

¹De Vergottini (2019), p. 574.

²Weber (2019), p. 115.

mirror democratic structures to properly represent voter’s choices.^[247] Only in this way can democratic and proper legislation be guaranteed, as the Parliament is of strong influence for legislation.^[248] Generally four functions are attributed to Parliament: a legislative function to create new laws, an suffrage task to elect the President of Parliament, high Judges or, in parliamentary systems, the Head of Government, a control purpose to supervise the executive which, e.g. is conducted by the appoint­ment of internal investigations committees and a public function which includes on the one hand the representation of the public’s will and on the other hand the information of the public on the other hand.

4.1.1 Historical Context

Parliament is the legislative body of a country and the fundamental concepts of parliamentary assembly and legislation date back thousands of years. Modern parliamentary democracies are tied to the history of democracy itself, especially concerning the degree of institutionalisation, meaning the development of parliamentarism as a form of organized politics.

Ancient Greece is often referred to as the birthplace of democracy. However, a parliamentary system was not yet properly evolved and a first step into this direction can be observed in the Roman Republic, which premiered the incorporation of legislative assemblies.^[249]

The word Parliament derives from the French word “parler”, meaning “talking”. It was first used when representatives of the boroughs and cities in England assem­bled and joined the feudal nobles, bishops and knights in a gathering which derived from the Curia Regis.^[250] It was also England, where in 1295 the Model Parliament was summoned by Edward I and met at Westminster on 13 November.^[251] By 1377 Thomas Hungerford has been appointed the first official speaker of the aforementioned, responsible for running its meetings,^[252] which was later replicated as many countries around the world inherited the English parliamentary system as colonies.^[253]

The importance of parliamentary organisation in a democratic manner could particularly well be observed in countries from Eastern Europe after the fall of the communist era.^[254] Since the activities of Eastern Parliaments were no longer subject to external influences (i.e. the Communist Party) and could be carried out autono­mously, the new rules of procedures in parliaments have been of outmost importance

Fig.

and took time to be formed, practiced and endorsed. The parliamentary work was often reorganised and structured in a similar way to Western democracies, by organs determined and legitimised independently from within the Parliament itself.^[255] More­over, the establishment of strong parties and factions which could channel diverging opinions and a culture of achieving compromises became of utmost importance.^[256]

In conclusion, the composition of the Parliament, the individual organs and their functions is strongly influenced by a country’s history. This is mainly due to the fact, that the Government is democratically legitimised through the Parliament and not through direct elections. Therefore, citizens devote their “executive” power to a member of Parliament who they have elected. This member then delegates his “power” to the Government.^[257]

4.1.2 Purpose and Function of Parliament

As outlined in the introduction, the purpose of these clauses is to secure that Parliament itself follows democratic rules. This is based on the fact that parliaments as constitutional organs have the right to self-organise concerning their own affairs.^[258] Therefore the organs of a Parliament are elected representatives, which ensure the autonomous self-government of the Parliament in the public^[259] without the influence of outer factors. In conclusion, the Standing Order autonomy of Parliaments can be recognised in either constitutional law or statutorily or non-legislatively,^[260] whereas preference is given to a brief constitutional embedding to permanently ensure the independence of Parliament.

Four functions are usually attributed to a functioning Parliament which are outlined in Fig. 4.1.

Fig.

The legislative function is addressed in detail in Chap. 6 of Vol I of Writing Constitutions The electoral function covers the right to suggest or directly appoint senior officials or to send delegates into the presidium or into parliamentary commissions. This right may include to suggest the head of Government or President of a country. Further below in this chapter the control function or Parliament is discussed in more details, however other chapters like Chap. 5 of Writing Constitutions outline the various inquisitorial rights that Parliament enjoys whilst Chap. 9 covers the impeachment procedure and Chap. 10 the question of (non) confidence which also form part of the control function. Finally,^[261] the parliamentary plenum often serves as the forum of the nation.^[262]

4.1.3 Procedural Questions

Individual organs within Parliament not only resemble a mirror-image of democracy but also in itself form a system of checks and balances as each organ controls the other and yet all of them have to work together to make progress.

Although most constitutional clauses concerning the appointment of presidium, speaker and committees are rather short in nature and confined to the aforemen­tioned, the specific functions of them, meaning their scope of duties and empower­ment, is generally further defined within national law, specifically in procedural rules and ordinance law. While many clauses regarding these organs seem to be minimalistic and generally clearly arranged at first glance, their interrelation with national law leads to a certain complexity, as they have to cover three different objectives: How the organs are elected, how they function and how they are supposed to interact with each other (Fig. 4.2).

Fig.

4.1.4 Structural Approach and Guiding Questions

As with other clauses, when drafting the clauses, including personnel clauses, many factors have to be taken into consideration. This is especially true regarding the complex interrelation of constitutional clauses and national laws.

The structural approach in Fig. 4.3 follows the procedural questions. Therefore, it has to be determined which organs require an election, who exactly can be appointed or elected as speaker, how this election takes place and what the functions of the different organs are. Furthermore, it needs to be set out whether the clause needs to be based in the constitution or are of sub-constitutional nature.

4.2