Divine Right and Parliamentary Immunity: A Symbiotic Relationship

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the transfer of sovereignty from the body politic of the monarch onto the people, in order to explain—in an interdisciplinary manner—the legal, political, theological and philosophical nature of parliamentary immunity. It explores the interdependence between the mechanisms of power and the principles of the divine right doctrine demonstrating the degree of sanctity attached to parliamentary immunity. Based on (but not limited to) Kantorowicz’s theory of the king’s two bodies, this study explores the embodiment of the sacredness and inviolability of the monarch’s body politic in the political power relations of the Parliament. The article goes above and beyond the previous attempts at investigating this subject, and seeks to uncover to what extent parliamentary immunity stems from, or embodies, the foundation of the divine right of the monarch.