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''De Lille and Another v Speaker of the National Assembly'',〔1998 (3) SA 430 (C).〕 an important case in South African constitutional law, was heard in the Cape Provincial Division from April 3 to 7, 1998, with judgment handed down on May 8. It was subsequently confirmed, on appeal, by the Supreme Court of Appeal. The High Court dealt with the issue of the powers of Parliament and parliamentary privilege, and found that such powers and privilege, to the extent of their inconsistency or incompatibility with the Constitution, are invalid. Where the privilege breaches the provisions of the Constitution, the aggrieved party is entitled to seek redress from the courts, to which is entrusted the task of ensuring the supremacy of the Constitution. The certificate issued by the Speaker in terms of section 5 of the Powers and Privileges of Parliament Act〔Act 91 of 1963〕 had the effect of undermining the independence of the courts and interfering with their functioning. Section 5, therefore, was unconstitutional to the extent that it purported to place parliamentary privilege beyond judicial scrutiny, and thus beyond the supreme Constitution, on the mere ''ipse dixit'' of the Speaker. Nor, the court found, does Parliament have the power to act ''mala fide''. The Constitution was not intended to authorise bias on the part of Parliament. In particular, section 57(1)(a) of the Constitution does not embrace the power to suspend a Member of Parliament as punishment for contempt. Such suspension, the court found, was inconsistent with the requirements of representative democracy, because it penalised not only the Member or her party, but also the electorate which voted for that party. The punishment of suspension, therefore, was unreasonable and unjustifiable in an open and democratic society based on freedom and equality, and accordingly failed the limitations test set in section 36 of the Constitution. In this regard, the court found also that parliamentary privilege does not qualify as a law of general application for the purposes of section 36. Finally, the High Court noted that section 58(1) of the Constitution, providing for freedom of speech in Parliament, was an absolute freedom, subject only to the rules and orders of the National Assembly, and that it was not a right subject to the limitations clause in section 36. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed an appeal against the ruling of the High Court, but on narrower grounds. It noted that no national legislation or Rules or orders of Parliament provided for the suspension of a Member where she was not obstructing or disrupting or unreasonably impeding the management of orderly business within the Assembly, but merely making a non-obstructive and non-disruptive speech. Such a suspension, accordingly, had no constitutional authority, and was therefore void. == Facts == During an interpellation debate in the National Assembly, the first applicant, Patricia de Dille, named ''inter alia'' eight senior members of the majority party in the House, the African National Congress, as being accused of having been spies of the previous government. The respondent, the Speaker of the House, intervened and ruled that the reference to spies was unparliamentary. The first applicant unconditionally withdrew the statement she had made. Thereafter, and after having examined Hansard, the respondent found that the first applicant had made two further remarks which she considered to be unparliamentary. The first applicant also withdrew those allegations unconditionally. Subsequently a motion, proposed by a member of the ANC, was adopted appointing an ''ad hoc'' committee to report to the House on the conduct of the first applicant in making serious allegations without substantiation against members of the House and to recommend what action, if any, the House should take in light of its report. Only the ANC supported the motion. The ''ad hoc'' committee met under the chairmanship of "D" and was constituted in proportion to the parties' representation in the House, with the ANC having eight members and the opposition parties seven. When the meeting of the committee commenced, the ANC members attempted to exclude the first applicant. The first applicant insisted on being present. At the first meeting of the committee, "D" had announced that the ANC had a motion which he wanted to put. He then began reading an ANC proposal on the recommendation to be made to the House. An ANC member of the committee intervened to explain that the recommendation was merely being put to the first applicant and was in the nature of a charge rather than a conclusion. "D" refused to disclose the document from which he was reading when called upon to do so and even tore up some of his papers. Prior to the committee's finalising its task, "C" took over as chairperson, in the absence of "D," who was apparently overseas. "C" had explained that the committee had been set up because he and his comrades had "been actually offended" by the first applicant's statement, and because she had flouted a rule of Parliament. The first applicant had been formally charged with abusing her privilege of freedom of speech and, secondly, with contravening the Powers and Privileges of Parliament Act,〔Act 91 of 1963〕〔s 10(3)(c).〕 in that she had wilfully failed to obey a National Assembly resolution to the effect that members should not impute improper conduct to others except by way of a separate substantial motion. She was never formally found guilty by the committee of the two charges against her. "C" had commented, when this was drawn to his attention, that "there is not anybody else who has said that (first applicant ) is actually innocent in her conduct." The committee recommended to the House, ''inter alia'', that she be suspended for fifteen parliamentary working days. These recommendations were adopted by the House. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「De Lille v Speaker of the National Assembly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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