ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh under article 102 of the Constitution can exercise judicial constitutional review. The scope of judicial review, however, is not explicitly elaborated in the Constitution. Although articles 7, 26, 44, and 102 together form the authoritative base for judicial review, the Supreme Court has mostly cited article 7, the constitutional supremacy clause, as a basis of its judicial review power. Article 7 states that any law inconsistent with the Constitution will be void, which, however, is silent as to who will interpret and determine the consistency of any law or executive act with the Constitution. The Supreme Court has unequivocally established that it, as the guardian of the Constitution, has the authority to enforce article 7. This chapter first explores the history of the constitutional origin of judicial review in Bangladesh. It then evaluates whether the Supreme Court acts independently as one of the coequal branches of the government when exercising the judicial review power to enforce the separation of powers. The chapter then goes on to analyse some important case laws to examine how the Supreme Court has interpreted, applied, and expanded its power of judicial review. In relevant places, a comparison with other jurisdictions will be made to understand the trajectory and the future of judicial review in Bangladesh.
