1.1- describe processess used for law making

Question 1

what are the two main sources of the law?

Answer 1

the government (through parliament) and the judiciary

Question 2

What is the parliament responsible for?

Answer 2

UK is a parliamentary democracy, meaning most of the countries laws are made by passing Acts of Parliament. Laws made by parliament are often referred to as statutes or legislation.

Question 3

What three parts is the parliament made up of?

Answer 3

the monarch (only a formal role in law making, they only give the agreement to the law)
House of Lords
House of Commons

Question 4

What are the Lords?

Answer 4

-Members are called peers, 800 of them
-All peers were noblemen, but now only 92 are hereditary
-Main job is to act as a double check on new laws

Question 5

What is the commons?

Answer 5

-most important members of parliament; made up of the elected representatives of the people: the 650 members of parliament

Question 6

The government

Answer 6

-represent the country. Formed by the political party that has the majority of the 650 MPs. PM is the leader of the majority party
- most proposals for new laws come from here- called a Bill.
Before putting a bill before parliament the government publishes a green paper. After the consultation, it publishes a white paper

Question 7

What is a green paper?

Answer 7

initial report to provoke public discussion of the topic of the subject. Often includes questions for interested individuals and organizations to respond to

Question 8

What is a white paper?

Answer 8

document setting out their detailed plans for legislation. Often includes a draft version of the Bill they intend to put before parliament.

Question 9

what’s the 7 parliamentary stages of a Bill?

Answer 9

First reading
Second reading
The committee stage
The report stage
Third reading
The lords
Royal Assent

Question 10

what is the first reading?

Answer 10

The government introduced the Bill into the comments, revives first reading. Formal announcement of the bill and is followed by a vote to allow it to move to it’s next stage

Question 11

What is the second reading?

Answer 11

main principles are considered and debated by the whole of the House of Commons and vote is taken. As the government has the support of the majority of MPs, they will usually win this vote. If so it lives to the next stage

Question 12

What is the committee stage?

Answer 12

Examined in detail, line by line, by a small committee made up of MPs from different parties. Committee will report back the whole House and will often often propose amendments to the bill

Question 13

What occurs in the report stage?

Answer 13

gives MPs an opportunity to consider committees report and debate and vote on any amendments they want to make, may spread over several days if the Bill is major

Question 14

What occurs in the third reading

Answer 14

final chance for the Commons to debate Bills contents. No amendments are allowed at this stage- house votes either to pass or reject the Bill

Question 15

what occurs at the Lords stage

Answer 15

gore through same stage as the commons.If they amend it, it must return to the commons do MPs can decide whether to accept or reject it. The house of commons has the final day as it is made up of the people’s elected representatives

Question 16

what occurs at the royal assent stage

Answer 16

Finally goes to the monarch for signing, known as the royal assent. The new law will come into force immediately u less the act specifies it will become applicable only at a certain date.

Question 17

What are the two processes of judiciary law making?

Answer 17

judicial precedent and statutory interpretation

Question 18

what is judicial precedent?

Answer 18

source of law making where the past decisions of judges create law for further judges to follow. It is based of the principle of following or standing by what judges have decided in previous cases.
Means that if the point of law in a case today is at the same in a previous case, the judge should follow the decision made in the previous one. Ensure fairness and consistency in the legal system. Known as common law.
A decision taken in a case by the higher courts creates an original or binding precedent for all lower courts.

Question 19

What are the two exception to precedent?

Answer 19

Distinguishing and overruling

Question 20

Explain distinguishing as a precedent exception

Answer 20

earlier only binds to present if legal principle involved is the same and if the facts are similar in both cases. Distinguishing means the judge finds the facts in the present case are different enough from the earlier one to allow them to reach a different decision and not have to follow the precedent of the earlier case.

Question 21

Explain overruling as an exception to precedent

Answer 21

where a court higher up the hierarchy states that a legal decision in an earlier case is wrong and overturns it. E.g, Supreme court can overrule a lee courts decision when it heard an appeal

Question 22

What is statutory interpretation? (judicial processes of law making)

Answer 22

-A statue is a written law and and so judges need to interpret the meaning of its words and apply them to the case they are judging. They have three main interpretation rules to help them do this

Question 23

what are the three main interpretation rules?

Answer 23

The literal rule, golden rule, mischief rule.

Question 24

Describe the literal rule

Answer 24

Under this rule- judges should use the everyday ordinary meaning of its words in a statute. One problem with this meathod is that a word can have several different meanings. Example: R v Maginnis- involving legal drugs- different judges found different meanings of the word supply.

Question 25

Describe the golden rule:

Answer 25

Allows the court to modular the literal meaning to avoid absurd results from the literal rule. Example, under official secrets Act it was an offense to obstruct her majesty’s forces in the vicinity of a prohibited place, like a naval base. One example was Adler arguing he was not in the vicinity of a prohibited space, we was actually in it. The court chose to apply the golden rule in order to avoid the absurd result

Question 26

Describe the mischief rule

Answer 26

Allows the court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve, rather than what the words actually say. Example- Licensing act makes it an offense to be drunk in charge of a carriage on the highway. In a Corkery v Carpenter, Corkery was found guilty even though he had been in charge of a bike not a carriage. They used the mischief rule to convict him, arguing the acts purpose was to avoid any transport when drunk