Intergovernmental Immunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Intergovernmental Immunities - Essay Example At the macro level, we have the national government while at the micro-level, we have the state or provincial governments. These levels of government co-exist with â€Å"an established division of governmental powers; legislative, executive and judicial.†1 Federal governments hinge on the idea involving â€Å"territorial divisions of authority, typically entrenched in the constitution which neither a sub-unit nor the center can alter unilaterally† (Follesdall 2003). This form of government is different and should be distinguished properly with the decentralized authority in unitary states where the central government has direct authority to revoked at will legislation governing the government. â€Å"What a legislature can do under a unitary system of government may be denied to either the central or regional governments and, sometimes as s  92 of our Constitution2 shows, to both the central and regional governments.†3 As Dicey pointed out, "The object for which a federal state is formed involves a division of authority between the national government and the separate States. 4 According to Dicey, the ceding of the some of the powers States to the national government created so many limitations upon the authority of the States. However, he also noted that such ceding of powers does not carry with it the right of the national government to â€Å"have the opportunity of encroaching upon the rights retained by the States.†5 It is, therefore, an acknowledged fact that the parameters of the powers given to the national government and those, which are retained by the States, should be subjected to â€Å"rigorous definition."  Nonetheless, separation of powers as what is espoused by the principles of federalism does not necessarily purport a total abdication of powers where there is total and complete immunity of intergovernmental sectors and its instrumentalities.