4: Legislation as a source of law Flashcards
What is the definition of legislation (1)
Formal written law by a body (aka legislature)
There are two main types of legislation. What are they named?
Primary legislation and secondary legislation
There are two primary legislatures. Who are these?
Parliament and the Privy Council
The two primary legislatures are Parliament and the Privy Council. What is the legislation that they create called?
Parliament create Acts of Parliament
The Privy Council create Order of Council
Is the following statement true/false?
’ Tax law is made solely by Act of the UK Parliament’
True
In the UK, Parliament create Acts of Parliament. What are the equivalent names for Scotland, Wales and NI?
Scotland - Acts of Scottish Parliament
Wales - Acts of Wales Assembly
NI - Acts of NI Assembly
There are 5 legislatures for secondary legislation. What are they?
the privy council
ministers of the crown
government depts, public corporations, court rule committees
local govt
professional bodies
In what two ways can secondary legislation be proved ‘invalid’ by the Courts?
- If the secondary legislatures exceed the powers of the primary legislatures
- If there is conflict between the legislation presented by the secondary legislatures and the legislation by the primary legislatures
Is secondary legislation less than that of primary legislation?
No, legislation made of them is of equal force and effect with legislation enacted by Parliament
How are Acts of UK Parliament classified?
Between application and purpose
Acts of UK Parliament are classified into application and purpose. Within application, how there are two types of acts. What are these?
Public acts and private acts
What is the difference between Public Acts and Private Acts? (4 - 2 each)
Public acts are:
- Initiated by Govt.
- Apply to everyone throughout the UK
Private acts are:
- Initiated outside the Govt.
- Apply to a particular group of people
Acts of UK Parliament are classified into application and purpose. What are the 6 acts according to their purpose?
- Declaration act
- Amending act
- Enabling act
- Consolidating act
- Rewrite act
- Codification act
which purpose act only exists in tax law?
rewrite act
All finance acts are of this type of act. what act is this?
Amending act
Order of council
Order in council
which is primary and which is secondary legislation?
Order of council is primary legislation
Order in council is secondary legislation
What are the five steps to an enactment of a bill
- First reading
- Second reading
- Committee Stage
- Report Stage
- Third Reading
The way in which an Act of Parliament operates may be analysed according to its … (3 things)
- Extent
- Application
- Temporal operation
When does an act operate during?
Operates for the time between the commencement and repeal.
Commencement does NOT equal enactment. An Act can be enacted but does not commence for a period of time
What are the needs for secondary legislation? (4)
- Parliament does not have time to debate in detail all legislation.
- Some legislation may be best drafted by experts in that area
- Regulations quickly change over time and it would be inefficient to go through the process of enactment
- Relatively minor changes in law do not require the attention of Parliament
What are the disadvantages of secondary legislation?
- It errodes the supremacy of Parliament
- There is already a large amount of secondary legislation and is hard to know whether a particular rule of law actually exists
- Secondary legislatures may try to exceed the powers than that of Parliament
What does it mean if legislation may ‘include a “sunset” provision’?
This means that rather than when legislation is in force until it is repealed, it is instead in force until a specified date.
What does intra vires and ultra vires mean?
intra vires means acting within bestowed powers
ultra vires means acting beyond bestowed powers
If delegated legislation is considered ultra vires, what is it now considered as?
void. it will have to be made again and cannot be amended
What does the Negative Resolution Procedure state?
The NRP states that the Statutory Instrument will become law on the date stated unless it becomes annulled within 40 days by Parliament
What are the two sub-categories within the Affirmative Resolution Procedure?
Draft affirmative procedure
Made affirmative procedure
What is Draft affirmative procedure
Draft affirmative procedure is when the statutory instrument cannot be made unless a draft has been approved by both Houses
What is Made affirmative procedure
The statutory instrument can be made and come into force before debate but cannot stay in force without both Houses approving within 1 month
Statutory instruments which are subject to the affirmative procedure must be considered by (… committee)
Joint Select Committee
Which one of the following may not be given the power to make subordinate legislation?
The House of Commons
The Port of London Authority
The Home Secretary
HMRC
The House of Commons
Subordinate legislation = delegated legislation. Parliamenet cannot delegate to themselves
Parliament in the UK comprises of three main elements:
House of Commons
House of Lords
The Crown (The Monarchy)
Can Parliament overrule case law?
Yes
‘Parliament cannot repeal statutes previously written by a previous Parliament’
True or False
False.
Parliament CAN repeal statutes created by previous Parliament.
