Prof. Noureddine El Beheiry
Head of the Renaissance bloc in the current Tunisian People’s Assembly & Former Minister of Justice and member of the Constituent Assembly

Abstract:

The legislative authority has a key role in proposing and enacting laws, because it is the authority to adopt laws. In countries with a parliamentary system, it is the supreme authority which has the power to appoint the executive authority by voting of confidence to the government, and it can isolate it through the mechanism of voting no confidence to the government. Even bills proposed by the Government, the legislative authority may amend them and vote for or against them.
Therefore, the legislative authority represents the basic pillar and the original source of all laws. The importance of studying the enactment and promulgation of laws is especially important in the light of a multi-party institution with different principles and foundations. It represents the people who elected them to achieve their development and prosperity. Therefore, this paper seeks to study the stages of parliamentary work in issuing laws, starting with presenting them, discussing them and voting on them in the committees for further discussion and approval in the plenary.
Although the legislative authority is the main source of laws, the application of these laws by the executive authority grants the latter a key role as well. It may submit draft laws to issues that they have not been considered by law yet, as the law may not achieve the objectives of its status, thus remains static to no avail. Therefore, some Arab countries give priority to the executive authority in the event of the submission of a draft law on the issue in which one of the parliamentary blocs has proposed a legislative initiative, as it is fully aware of the difficulties and obstacles of its implementation.
Therefore, our research will include the following topics due to their importance in the topic under study:
Studying the relationship between the legislative and executive authorities in issuing and submitting laws.
Studying the role of the civil society in pushing for the adoption of new laws and legislations that reflect the relations of the active individuals in the state and its institutions. These individuals exercise authority through their activity in associations or through their writings or ideas if they are journalists, media professionals or researchers in their fields of specialization. By their very nature, democratic parliaments listen to bodies representing civil society by meeting them within the framework of parliamentary committees before discussing bills. Naturally, these associations and bodies have the power and influence to influence the orientation of legislators. The press and the media have a role and influence on the members of the legislative and executive authorities in adopting draft laws, by shedding light on certain issues.
Political parties are the cornerstone of democratic societies. They reflect the will and concerns of the people. Political parties play an active and direct role in the process of understanding some issues when they are part of the legislative power through their parliamentary blocs or when they are not part of the authority through its activities, popular and media campaigns.
The executive regulations and the ministerial decisions are part of the legal pyramid, ie, when they are issued, the executive authority assumes the role of the legislative authority and complements the laws.
Within the context of the relative separation between authorities (Montesquieu), we find that there are legislative competencies for Heads of State to fill legal gaps and achieve the State’s legal policy by submitting legislative initiatives and ratifying laws or introducing bills, including those relating to the approval of treaties with foreign States

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