1.1 Describe processes for law making Flashcards
Two main sources of the law
The government, through parliament
The judiciary
List the order of stages in Law making
0.green paper/white paper
1. First reading
2. Second readings
3.Committee stage
4.Report stage
5.Third reading
6.House of Lords
7.Royal Assent
The Lords Role
Double checker on new laws
92 Hereditary peers and 26 COE bishops and arch bishops
Commons
Elected Representatives of people to represent a constituency
Government
Formed by political party
Where proposal for a new bill comes from
Green Paper
Initial report to evoke public discussion
White paper
Draft version of Bill
First reading
Formal announcement of bill and vote to allow it to move to next stage
Second reasing
Main principles considered and debated by HOC
Committee stage
Examined by detail and amendments proposed
Report stage
Debate and vote on any amendments made
Third reading
Final debate for bills content
House of Lords
Goes through the process again and any amendments made are returned to HOC who have the final say
Royal Assent
Monarch signs agreement to make bill into law
2 ways judiciary contributes in law making
Judicial precedent
Statutory Interpretation
Judicial precedent
Past decisions of judges create new laws for future judges to follow
follows court hierarchy
“common law”
Court hierarchy
A decision taken in a case by a higher court automatically creates binding precedent for lower courts
Exceptions to precedent
Distinguishing
Overruling
Distinguishing in Judicial precedent
Judge finds facts different from one case to the earlier case
Overruling in Judicial precedent
Court higher up the hierarchy states legal decisions in earlier court is wrong and over turns in
Examples of Judicial precedent
R v R law on marital rape
Statutory interpretation
Judges can make up laws by the way they interpret acts of parliament
Types of statutory interpretation
Literal Rule
Golden rules
Mischief rule
Literal rule in statutory interpretation
Use of ordinary everyday meanings of words
Problems arise when a word has several different meanings
Golden rules in statutory interpretation
Rule will not be applied if it leads to absurdity
Mischief Rule in statutory interpretation
Allows court to enforce what the statue was intended to achieve, rather than what the words actually say
