1.1 Flashcards
What is a green paper
It’s the first draft of a proposal of law, it’s a consultation document that allows anyone to comment on the proposal.
What is a white paper
The white paper is a firm proposal/final draft for a new law. Also known as a bill and is given to a house to go through the 7 stages of the governmental law making process
What are the House of Commons?
Makes up 1 third of parliament, where elected politicians debate and vote on whether to throw out or pass a bill on
What is the House of Lords
Make up 1 third of parliament. They are an unelected body chamber made of lords temporal, lords spiritual and hereditary peers. They decide towards whether a law gets passed or chucked out
What is the monarch
An inherited postion, where they sign off / approve the bill to officially make it a new law.
What are the 7 key stages of law making
- Consultation stage
- Fist reading
- Second reading
- Commitee stage
- Report stage
- Third reading
- Royal assent
What is the consultation stage
This is where the draft of the bill is made, Green and white papers are published.
What is the first reading
Where the government announces the title of the bill in the House of Commons
What is the second reading
The first debate and vote on the bill. The bill could be voted out at this stage
What is the commitee stage
This is where detailed scrutiny of the bill and amendments are made to the bill by a small group of experts
What is the report stage
Bill is given back to the relevant house by the commitee chairman with all the recommended amendments
What is the third reading
Where the final debate and vote happens to either hold or reject the bill. If the bill passes, it gets given to the other house where they repeat stages 2-6. The bill is ping ponged between the houses as they can come to an agreement.
What is royal assent
Where the ruling monarch signs off on the bill as a new law. This makes it an official act of parliament
What are the 2 main ways of judicial law making
- Statutory interpretation
- Judicial precedent
What is statuatory interpretation
Where a judge is called from a higher court to interpret the meanings of words and phrases if a statute is vague or ambiguous
What is the literal rule
A method of statutory interpretation where the judge gives the words in a statue there original meaning
What is the golden rule
Where the judge will depart from the original meaning of the statute
What is the mischief rule
This is where the judge will look at the statute and see what it’s trying to achieve
What is a case study that links to statutory interpretation
Whitely vs chappell
This is where a man stole a dead man’s identify to get a second vote. He was taken to trial, the literal rule was applied and he was found not guilty because technically a dead person isn’t entitled to vote
What is judicial precedent
It’s a Lego principle where a higher court sets a standard rule that MUST be followed by lower courts
What is original precedent
Where a precedent hasn’t been set so a judge from a higher courts set a principle that should be followed by other lower courts
What is a binding precedent
Where a principle has been set from a higher court judge and is being followed by lower courts if the cases are similar
How does judicial perecdent work
This is where a judge will review previous cases with a similar nature. If facts are similar, precedent is followed. But if the cases differ, the precedent isn’t followed or a new precedent is set
What is a case study that shows original precedent
Donoghue vs stevensons
Donoghue drank a ginger beer but there was a rotting snail in it, it made them sick. Lord atkin introduced the concept of the neighbour principle, where the manufacturer owed a duty of care. Donoghue won the case
