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Show British Parliament Supreme Some Americans will find it difficult to understand how the British manage to retain their free institutions when they hear that the House of Commons has voted itself another year of existence. ex-istence. -The present Parliament is in its eighth year, being the longest since 1679. It " has witnessed three kings, three prime ministers, minis-ters, a royal jubilee, a royal abdication, ab-dication, the outbreak of the present war and the destruction of its chamber by enemy action. The British Parliament, of course, possesses unlimited power. pow-er. It is restricted to no written constitution and, upon all occasions, oc-casions, acts in accordance with its best judgment for the protection protec-tion of the interests entrusted to its care. There is no Supreme court in Great Britain with the power to nullify an act of Parliament. Whatever the law may be, as passed by Parliament, everybody else in the Island must obey the statute. The Prime Minister and his associates hold office as long as theycommand the support of Parliament, subject to the proj vision that, except in abnormal times, a general election cannot be postponed langer than five years. There is not person in the United Kingdom today under twenty-eight years of age who has voted in a general election but everybody agrees that this is not desirable and that the Churchill Chur-chill will remain in power until the end of the war. |