Justice in the Distribution of Legislative Authority in a Federal State (Iraq as a Model)

The distribution of constitutional powers between the federal authority and the regional authorities, particularly the distribution of legislative powers, is one of the most important and delicate issues accompanying the establishment of a federal state, especially when it comes to determining the extent of powers enjoyed by the regions. The federal constitution plays a significant role in this regard, as it stipulates the mechanism for distributing these powers, how they are organized, the controls for exercising them, and resolving disputes that arise concerning them. The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq of 2005 undertook the task of distributing powers among the main components of the federal system in Iraq, both in its vertical dimension represented by the distribution of powers between the federal legislative body and the legislative body in the region, and in its horizontal dimension represented by the distribution of legislative powers among the components of the federal legislative authority. This was achieved by including a number of provisions specific to the distribution of these powers and clarifying the controls for their exercise. However, the potential for disputes between these two levels remains due to the lack of clarity in some constitutional texts governing legislative powers and their shortcomings, which leads to differing interpretations, thereby undermining fairness in the distribution of these powers. Keywords: Justice, distribution of legislative powers, federal state, Iraq