What if, The Indian Independence Act 1947 is repealed today?

House of Lords, British Parliament

India got independence through an Act of British Parliament. What if that Act is repealed today ? 

It is a settled principle of law that a parliament which can make a law can repeal it too.

                                           

Then, what prohibits them from doing so?

Acceptance of Law by the people is the ultimate test of its validity. If a large number of people decide not to accept a law or recognize it as a valid law, no modern state is powerful enough to implement it. 

Un-implementable statutes are dead letters of law. 

“Rule of Recognition” given by Prof H.L.A. Hart comes near to answering the above questions. Recognition by the people and recognition of such law in the courts, are the factors which will decide the future if such Repealing Act is passed in England today.

In the words of Prof. Hart “Though the composition, mode of enactment, and structure of the local legislature may still be that prescribed in the original constitution, its enactments are valid now not because they are the exercise of powers granted by  a valid statute of the Westminster Parliament. They are valid because, under the rule of recognition locally accepted, enactment by the local legislature is an ultimate criterion of validity.”

It’s a constitutional incapacity, based on the rule of recognition, which prevents the British Parliament to repeal Indian Independence Act 1947.

It is also a caveat for the parliaments to make only implementable recognizable laws.

Parliaments must remember that they do not make constitutions. Rather it is the constitution which establishes a Parliament.

Kartikey