International Journal of Law And Criminology
68
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VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue05 2025
PAGE NO.
68-74
10.37547/ijlc/Volume05Issue05-09
Procedural Aspects of Exercising the Right Of Legislative
Initiative
Baymurotov Gayrat Panjievich
Lecturer of Karshi State University, Uzbekistan
Received:
24 March 2025;
Accepted:
20 April 2025;
Published:
30 May 2025
Abstract:
This article delves deeply into the procedural aspects of exercising the right of legislative initiative. The
right of legislative initiative plays a crucial role in democratic societies, as it allows citizens, organizations, and
state bodies to participate in the development and adoption of draft laws. The article analyzes the stages,
requirements, and limitations of exercising the right of legislative initiative. Furthermore, the article compares the
experience of implementing the right of legislative initiative in various countries and develops proposals for
improving the right of legislative initiative in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Keywords
: - Legislative acts, normative legal act, legislative technique, draft law, legislative initiative.
Introduction:
In the law-making process, the right of legislative
initiative is exercised within the legal relationship of
legislative initiative. Accordingly, the question of the
content of the legal relationship of legislative initiative
is a key procedural aspect of exercising the right of
legislative initiative.
As an element of the law-making process, the legal
relationship of legislative initiative is a public
procedural legal relationship. Firstly, as mentioned
above, it arises to achieve a procedural outcome
–
the
parliament's decision to accept a draft law for
consideration, after which the right of legislative
initiative is considered exercised. Secondly, the
authorized subject pursues not their own interest, but
the interest of the state; accordingly, the obligated
subject also acts in the interest of the state, not in the
private interest of the authorized party, as is the case
in private legal relationships. If the factor that
motivates a subject with the right of legislative
initiative to submit a draft law to parliament is the state
interest in changing existing legislation, then in the
direct legal relationship of legislative initiative, the
state interest pursued by both the initiator of the draft
law and the parliament consists of exercising the right
of legislative initiative in accordance with all
established rules, that is, in lawfully exercising this
right. Accordingly, the legal regulation of the content of
the legal relationship of legislative initiative should
include a system of guarantees for the lawful exercise
of the right of legislative initiative. Thirdly, the action of
each subject in the state's interest ensures that there
may not be an absolute correspondence not only
between rights and obligations, but also between
obligations, as well as between the contents of
corresponding rights and obligations. Fourthly, the
participation of state authoritative subjects in public
legal relations means that the content of this legal
relationship includes rights and obligations that
express the powers of these subjects.
Thus, within the scope of studying the procedural
aspects of exercising the right of legislative initiative, it
is necessary to reveal the content of the legal
relationship of legislative initiative, taking into account
all the features of public procedural legal relationships,
and to present a model of its legal regulation, which
should include a system of guarantees for the lawful
exercise of the right of legislative initiative.
In addition to the right to submit draft laws to the
relevant div, as mentioned above, the subject of
legislative initiative possesses the following powers:
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International Journal of Law And Criminology (ISSN: 2771-2214)
The right to demand consideration of their initiative;
The right to defend the norms established in the draft
during parliamentary debate;
The right to withdraw their initiative.
The rights and obligations of the subject of legislative
initiative correspond to a set of rights and obligations
of the legislative div. From this perspective, the
Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic
of Uzbekistan possesses the following rights and
obligations:
The obligation to consider the draft law or legislative
proposal;
The obligation to demand compliance with the rules of
procedure;
The possibility of returning the draft to the initiator if
they do not comply with the rules of procedure
(returning the draft is a specific sanction for failure to
fulfill their obligation);
The right to reject the submitted draft during the
discussion process[1].
In legal literature, approaches to the content of the
legal relationship of legislative initiative are
distinguished by their diversity. Some researchers
highlight the following among the rights of the subject
of legislative initiative:
The right to submit a draft law to the legislative div;
The right to demand consideration of the draft by the
legislative div;
The right to present a report on the draft;
The right to withdraw the draft.
Other researchers view these rights as powers
constituting the subjective right of legislative initiative.
These rights (powers) are matched by the obligations
of the parliament to consider the draft law, to provide
the subject of legislative initiative with the opportunity
to present a report on the draft law at a parliamentary
session, and to return the draft law to the initiator who
is withdrawing it. In turn, in the scientific literature, the
obligations of the subject of legislative initiative within
the framework of legal relations with parliament
include the obligation to prepare or submit a draft law
and accompanying documents in strict accordance with
the established requirements; if this obligation is not
fulfilled, the legislative div has the right to return the
draft law to the initiator.
Some authors also emphasize that the initiator of a
draft law has the right to receive complete information
about the draft law, and that parliament has the
obligation to inform the subject of legislative initiative
about any changes occurring with the draft law.
The creation of working groups to work on draft laws is
not only a justified but also a necessary step in
improving law-making activities. Including in the
composition of such groups representatives of both
authorities and public structures, as well as experts in a
particular field of activity, helps to develop a unified
position on the draft law before its consideration by the
legislative div, and to prepare a document that
requires specific knowledge in a particular field of
activity. At the same time, employees of the legislative
div's staff should also be compulsorily included in the
composition of such groups, since it is they, being
professionals in law-making activities, who can create a
draft law that most closely meets the rules of legal
technique[2].
Furthermore, it can be concluded that the process of
exercising the right of legislative initiative occurs during
the period of consideration of the draft law in
parliament, and therefore the content of the legal
relationship of legislative initiative includes all the
opportunities that the initiator of the draft law has in
parliament during the legislative process, and all the
actions carried out by parliament within the framework
of the legislative process, which can be considered as
fulfilling an obligation corresponding to the right of
legislative initiative.
Since the legal relationship of legislative initiative
develops within the scope of the legislative initiative
stage, and the purpose of both the stage and the legal
relationship is to exercise the right of legislative
initiative, the legal criteria for including other rights and
obligations of the draft law initiator and parliament in
the content of the legal relationship of legislative
initiative are that the rights and obligations are
directed towards exercising the right of legislative
initiative and that their implementation is limited to
the scope of the legislative initiative stage. The majority
of the rights and obligations listed above do not meet
these criteria.
Rights and obligations that do not meet the specified
legal criteria include, in particular, the subject of
legislative initiative's right to withdraw a draft law and
their obligation to present a report on the draft law at
a parliamentary session.
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International Journal of Law And Criminology (ISSN: 2771-2214)
The right to withdraw a draft law is exercised for the
purpose of stopping the legislative process. That is, the
purpose of exercising the right to withdraw a draft law
is completely contrary to the purpose of exercising the
right of legislative initiative. Therefore, exercising the
right to withdraw a draft law is not directed towards
exercising the right of legislative initiative, and
therefore the right to withdraw a draft law cannot be
included in the content of the legal relationship of
legislative initiative. Furthermore, the boundaries for
exercising the right to withdraw a draft law are not
limited to the scope of the legislative initiative stage.
Therefore, the right to withdraw a draft law can be
exercised both during the legislative initiative stage and
during subsequent stages of the legislative process: the
stage of preparing the draft law for consideration by
parliament and the stage of considering the draft law in
its first reading by parliament.
Contrary to the views expressed in legal literature,
presenting a report on a draft law at a parliamentary
session is not a right, but an obligation of the subject of
legislative initiative, since this report is necessary for
parliament to form a final will regarding the concept of
the draft law. Accordingly, this obligation is fulfilled
during the first reading stage, when the right of
legislative initiative has already been exercised.
Therefore, this obligation cannot be included in the
content of the legal relationship of legislative initiative.
Thus, based on the legal criteria that the rights and
obligations are directed towards exercising the right of
legislative initiative and that their implementation is
limited to the scope of the legislative initiative stage,
the subject of legislative initiative's right to withdraw a
draft law and their obligation to present a report on the
draft law at a parliamentary session are not included in
the content of the legal relationship of legislative
initiative, and neither are the corresponding rights and
obligations of parliament[3].
In the scientific literature, the subject of legislative
initiative is assigned the obligation to prepare or submit
a draft law and the documents attached to it in strict
compliance with the established requirements. The
obligation to submit a draft law and the documents
attached to it in strict compliance with the established
requirements, as noted above, is a key part of the core
content of the legal relationship of legislative initiative,
is fulfilled simultaneously with the exercise of the right
of legislative initiative, and failure to fulfill it leads to
the parliament returning the draft law to the initiator.
However, the content of the legal relationship of
legislative initiative does not include the obligation to
prepare a draft law and the documents attached to it in
strict compliance with the established requirements,
because it is fulfilled before the legislative initiative is
directed to parliament, that is, before the start of the
legislative process and, accordingly, before the start of
the legislative initiative stage and the legal relationship.
The aforementioned position of some researchers that
the right of the draft law initiator to receive complete
information about the draft law and the parliament's
obligation to provide this information are part of the
legal relationship of legislative initiative is noteworthy.
Therefore, a complex, continuous information legal
relationship is formed between the subject of the right
of legislative initiative and the parliament at different
stages of the legislative process, from legal connections
that arise regarding the former obtaining information
about the movement of the draft law. Therefore, when
defining the content of the legal relationship of
legislative initiative, it is important to clearly distinguish
the information legal relationship that arises between
the subject of the right of legislative initiative and the
parliament in general, and the legal connection
between them regarding obtaining information about
the movement of the draft law during the legislative
initiative stage. It is the rights and obligations within
the framework of this legal connection that can be
included in the composition of the legal relationship of
legislative initiative, based on the legal criterion that
the implementation of the rights and obligations is
limited to the scope of the legislative initiative stage.
Within the scope of the legislative initiative stage, the
authorized subject exercises their right of legislative
initiative, that is, the right to raise the issue of issuing a
new normative legal act before the legislative div[4].
The subject of legislative initiative's right to receive
information about the movement of the draft law
during the legislative initiative stage and the
corresponding obligation of parliament also meet the
legal criterion that the rights and obligations are
directed towards exercising the right of legislative
initiative. Within the framework of the legislative
process, the right to receive information about the
movement of the draft law and the corresponding
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International Journal of Law And Criminology (ISSN: 2771-2214)
obligations are of an enabling nature, serving as a
guarantee of the active participation of the subject of
legislative initiative in the legislative procedures. The
information coming from parliament about the
movement of the draft law ensures the full
participation of the subject of legislative initiative in the
legislative process, and serves to achieve the goals
corresponding to the purpose of the various stages of
this process. Therefore, during the legislative initiative
stage, the right to receive information about the
movement of the draft law and the corresponding
obligation are directed towards exercising the right of
legislative initiative.
Thus, of all the rights and obligations mentioned in
legal literature as belonging to the subject of legislative
initiative and to parliament within the framework of
the legislative process, the content of the legal
relationship of legislative initiative includes only the
right of legislative initiative belonging to the draft law
initiator, the obligation to submit the draft law and the
documents attached to it in strict compliance with the
established requirements, and the right to receive
information about the movement of the draft law
during the legislative initiative stage, as well as the
corresponding obligations of parliament to accept the
draft law for consideration and to inform the subject of
the right of legislative initiative about the movement of
the draft law during the legislative initiative stage.
Further revealing the content of the legal relationship
of legislative initiative, presenting a model of its legal
regulation, which includes a system of guarantees for
the lawful exercise of the right of legislative initiative,
is possible by revealing the content of the specified
rights and obligations.
A draft law is considered "introduced" from the
moment it is accepted by parliament for consideration,
that is, from the moment the right of legislative
initiative is exercised. Accordingly, the introduction of
a draft law cannot be limited to directing it to
parliament. In addition to the legal opportunity to
direct the draft law and the documents attached to it
to parliament, the content of the legal opportunity to
introduce a draft law also includes other legal
opportunities predetermined by the principles of
legality, separation of powers, popular sovereignty,
judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of
citizens, and the rationality of the legislative process,
since the active actions of the obligated subject
(parliament) are necessary to exercise the right of
legislative initiative. Such legal opportunities include
the opportunity to present and/or defend the
legislative initiative in writing and/or at meetings of
parliamentary bodies participating in resolving the
issue of accepting the draft law for consideration by
parliament, the opportunity to eliminate non-
compliance of the legislative initiative with the
established requirements, and the opportunity to
appeal to the court against the parliament's decision
(inaction) regarding the acceptance of the draft law for
consideration.
The content of parliament's obligation to accept a draft
law for consideration to some extent reflects the
content of the right of legislative initiative, the
obligation to submit the draft law and the documents
attached to it in accordance with the established
requirements, and includes elements predetermined
by the principle of legality. The elements of this
obligation
of
parliament
are
the
following
requirements for its proper action:
Registering the legislative initiative received by
parliament;
Verifying that the legislative initiative comes from an
authorized subject and that this initiative complies with
the conditions for exercising the right of legislative
initiative, as well as allowing the initiator of the draft
law to participate with advisory voting rights in
meetings of parliamentary bodies participating in
resolving the issue of accepting the draft law for
consideration by parliament, and taking into account
the position of the draft law on the legislative initiative
and responding to its legal requirements addressed to
parliament regarding accepting the draft law for
consideration by parliament, which requirements it
expresses orally and/or in writing at the specified
meetings;
Leaving the draft law inactive in order to eliminate the
inconsistencies identified in the legislative initiative by
the initiator of the draft law;
Returning the draft law to the initiator if the legislative
initiative does not comply with the conditions for
exercising the right of legislative initiative (if these
shortcomings cannot be eliminated or have not been
eliminated after the draft law has been left inactive) or
if the legislative initiative originates from an
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unauthorized subject. At the same time, due to the
principle of legality, it is important to emphasize that
this element is precisely an obligation of parliament,
and not its right, as indicated in legal literature, as was
emphasized above;
Accepting the draft law for consideration.
In current legislation, the content of the right of
legislative initiative and the obligation of parliament to
accept a draft law for consideration are reduced to a
minimum. It is mainly reduced to the legal opportunity
to direct the legislative initiative to parliament, to
parliament's proper action to register the legislative
initiative after it has been received by parliament, to
checking its compliance with the conditions for
exercising the right of legislative initiative (without the
requirement to allow the initiator to participate with
advisory voting rights in meetings of the relevant
parliamentary bodies, to take into account their
position on the legislative initiative, and to respond to
their legal requirements), and, based on the results of
the check, to accepting the draft law for consideration
or returning it to the subject of the right of legislative
initiative, regardless of the degree to which the
violations committed by it have been eliminated.
The consequence of such legal regulation is a significant
reduction in the guarantees for the lawful exercise of
the right of legislative initiative, which significantly
reduces the effectiveness of exercising the right of
legislative initiative, leading the legislative initiative
stage to a formal verification of the compliance of the
legislative initiative with the conditions for exercising
the right of legislative initiative with the passive role of
the initiator of the draft law.
The absence of a legal opportunity for the subject of
the right of legislative initiative to present and/or
defend the legislative initiative in writing and/or during
consideration
at
meetings
of
the
relevant
parliamentary bodies excludes interaction between the
initiator of the draft law and parliament to agree on
positions regarding the issue of properly expressing the
will to initiate the legislative process by the initiator of
the draft law, to exchange reasoned arguments about
compliance with the requirements for the legislative
initiative, and about the compliance of the legislative
initiative with other conditions for exercising the right
of legislative initiative. And such interaction makes it
possible to avoid illegal decisions that impede the
exercise of the right of legislative initiative, to eliminate
emerging contradictions at an early stage, and to reach
a common opinion. The need for this interaction with
parliament in relation to draft law initiators who are
state authoritative subjects stems from the principle of
separation of powers, while for draft law initiators who
are direct subjects of popular sovereignty, it ensures
their full participation in the management of state
affairs[5].
Taking into account that a number of requirements for
a draft law and the documents attached to it are of a
formal nature or can be eliminated in a short time for
other reasons, based on the principle of rationality of
the legislative process, the requirement for
parliament's proper action in such cases is that it
should not return the draft law to its initiator, thereby
suspending the legal relationship of legislative initiative
and the legislative process in general, but rather leave
the draft law inactive, so that the inconsistencies
identified in the legislative initiative can be eliminated
by the draft law initiator within a reasonable time.
In this regard, I consider it necessary to establish
mandatory requirements for the introduction of draft
laws by deputies of the Legislative Chamber: to conduct
a study on the feasibility and relevance of applying the
draft law in current legislation; to conduct a legal
examination of draft laws at the stage of introducing
them to the Legislative Chamber[6].
Parliament controls the legality of introducing a draft
law through appropriate verification. If parliament
itself makes an illegal decision on the issue of accepting
a draft law for consideration or is illegally inactive on
this issue, the subject of the right of legislative initiative
must have the legal opportunity to appeal this decision
(inaction) to the court. For a situation where the
initiator of the draft law is a state authoritative subject,
the judicial dispute with parliament will be in the area
of objective law, that is, the dispute is related to
parliament's compliance with legal instructions on
accepting a draft law for consideration, and its correct
interpretation of them. If the initiator of the draft law
is a direct subject of popular sovereignty, the subject of
the judicial dispute is also the protection of the
constitutional right of citizens to participate in the
management of state affairs. Given the constitutional
and legal nature of these cases, their consideration
should fall within the competence of the Constitutional
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Court and the Supreme Court of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, in accordance with the level of the
legislative process. It should be noted that the result of
such legal regulation should be the exclusion of these
courts from the list of subjects of the right of legislative
initiative, so that they can avoid the situation where
they may become "judges in their own case."
The principle of legal certainty implies the following
requirements for the legal regulation of the fulfillment
of parliament's obligation to accept a draft law for
consideration: the requirement to establish a
maximum time limit for parliament to resolve the issue
of accepting a draft law for consideration; the
requirement to establish a rule that parliament's
decision to return a draft law to its initiator must be
reasoned. Establishing these rules in legislation is also
a guarantee of exercising the right of legislative
initiative.
Without establishing the specified maximum time limit,
the resolution of the issue of accepting a draft law for
consideration by parliament can be unreasonably
prolonged, and as a result, the right of legislative
initiative may remain unexercised for an indefinitely
long time. Legal uncertainty in terms of the normative
establishment of the maximum time limit for resolving
the issue of accepting a draft law for consideration by
parliament creates conditions for violating the principle
of legal equality in relation to subjects of the right of
legislative initiative in parliamentary practice.
The rule that the decision to return a draft law to its
initiator must contain the reasons for parliament's
refusal to accept the draft law for consideration is a
guarantee against the illegal return of the draft law and
thereby ensures the exercise of the right of legislative
initiative. In addition, this rule creates the conditions
for legal certainty regarding the return of the draft law
to its initiator, which is particularly important in the
context of the subject of the right of legislative
initiative's legal opportunity to appeal to the court
against parliament's decision (inaction) regarding the
acceptance of the draft law for consideration.
Furthermore, this rule can help to exercise the right of
legislative initiative when re-introducing the draft law
to parliament.
The right of the draft law initiator, which is included in
the content of the legal relationship of legislative
initiative, to receive information about the movement
of the draft law during the legislative initiative stage,
and the corresponding obligation of parliament to
provide the relevant information, is also, in fact, a
guarantee of exercising the right of legislative initiative.
Thus, having received information about the
movement of the draft law during the legislative
initiative stage, the subject of the right of legislative
initiative can present their draft law, defend it,
justifiably demand that it be accepted for
consideration, eliminate the shortcomings of the
legislative initiative, and appeal to the court against
parliament's decision to accept the draft law for
consideration. That is, information about the
movement of the draft law during the legislative
initiative stage creates conditions for the draft law
initiator to exercise the legal opportunities that are
included in the content of the right of legislative
initiative.
Therefore, the following should be provided for in
current legislation:
The right to receive information about the movement
of the draft law during the legislative initiative stage is
the right of the draft law initiator, the content of which
is constituted by the legal opportunities to obtain the
specified information and to demand its provision from
parliament in oral or written form;
Parliament's obligation to provide information to the
draft law initiator about the movement of the draft law
during the legislative initiative stage;
Among the documents submitted with the draft law,
there are also financial justifications, which are
obligatorily established for all draft laws.
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