AC 1.1

Question 1

Three bodies of Parliament

Answer 1

House of Commons
House of Lords
Monarch

Question 2

House of Commons

Answer 2

Made up of 650 MPs who each represent a local constituency. Also known as the Democratic House as they are selected by vote of the people and have a political agenda.

Question 3

House of Lords

Answer 3

Life Peers who have been voted or recognised - Lord and Baroness. Influential people for the public such as Lord Alun Sugar - influential in the Business industry.
Also can be hereditary who have inherited the title such as the Monarch and the Bishop.
They don’t have a political agenda and they are impartial from the government and the public.

Question 4

Monarch

Answer 4

Approve the law.

Meets with the PM every week to discuss new laws.

Gives Royal Assent.

Question 5

Making laws in Parliament

Answer 5

Laws made in Parliament are called statutes, Acts of Parliament, Legislation.

Parliament creates legislation in the UK and everyone has to follow these laws.

Question 6

Bill

Answer 6

An idea for a law which goes through stages to be a statute.

Question 7

Types of Bills

Answer 7

Public Bill
Private Bill
Private Members Public Bill

Government Bills
Personal Bills

Question 8

Private Bills

Answer 8

Intended to affect one particular area or organisation.

EG: NHS, Education

Question 9

Public Bills

Answer 9

Intended to affect the public as a whole.

EG: Dangerous Dog Act

Question 10

Private Members’ Bills

Answer 10

Type of Public Bill

Sponsored by an individual MP or a Peer. Affects the whole of the public but it is a private member who introduced it to Parliament.

Question 11

Government Bills

Answer 11

Type of Public Bill

Steered through Parliament by a minister from the appropriate government department.

Question 12

Personal Bills

Answer 12

Type of Private Bill

Affects one or two people. Always begins in the Lords.

Question 13

Turning a bill into an act process

Answer 13

1. Consultation Stage
2. First Reading
3. Second Reading
4. Committee Stage
5. Report Stage
6. Third Reading
7. Bill goes to other House
8. Royal Assent

Question 14

Consultation Stage

Answer 14

Government makes a draft of the Bill and asks senior officials to make comments.

Question 15

First Reading

Answer 15

Government tells everyone about the Bill by reading out its title in the House of Commons or Lords to let everyone know about it.

Question 16

Second Reading

Answer 16

Main debating stage where all MPs or Lords can discuss the Bill, ask questions and vote on it. Can be voted out at this stage.

Question 17

Committee Stage

Answer 17

A smaller group of MPs or Lords look at the Bill in detail. May make amendments based on their discussions. Scrutinises further.

Question 18

Report Stage

Answer 18

Amendments made during the Committee Stage are reported to everyone in either House. MPs or Lords may vote on these amendments.

Question 19

Third Reading

Answer 19

Overall consideration of the Bill in either House and final votes to decide whether it goes any further.

Question 20

Bill goes to the other House

Answer 20

Follow similar stages. They can suggest amendments to the Bill and then send it back, that House may send it back again until an agreement can be reached. If no agreement can be reached, the House of Commons can vote to pass the law without agreement from the House of Lords.

Question 21

Royal Assent

Answer 21

Monarch signs-off the Bill as a new law or ‘Act of Parliament’.

Question 22

Ping Pong Affect

Answer 22

If House of Lords has made a change it must go back to the Commons and vice versa. Occurs until an agreement is reached. Cannot go to Royal Assent until this happens.

Question 23

Judges

Answer 23

Listen to the facts of a case in court.

Will sentence aftere Jury’s verdict and give a HELD.
=judgement

That judgement creates a precedent.

Question 24

Precedent and Common Law

Answer 24

Precedent = a rule for other judges to follow if the facts in the case are similar

Common Law = judge made law

Question 25

Statutory Interpretation

Answer 25

How judges interpret statutes - the law made by Parliament

Have to apply it to a case specifically and so will need to interpret it

Question 26

Three rules to interpretation

Answer 26

Literal Rule
Golden Rule
Mischief Rule

Question 27

Literal Rule

Answer 27

Dictates the statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. Requires a judge to interpret what the law states “actually”.

Question 28

Golden Rule

Answer 28

Allows the court to modify the literal meaning of words in a statute to avoid absurdity or inconsistency. More flexible and adaptable to the broader implications of the law.

Question 29

Mischief Rule

Answer 29

Determines the intention of the legislators and to correct the defect or mischief the statute was passed to remedy.
Gives most discretion to judges and is applied in specific, usually ambiguous cases.
Can only be used to statutes that were passed to fix a problem in the common law.

Question 30

Literal Rule: CHEESEMAN V DPP (1990)

Answer 30

Defendant acquitted because police officers were not considered ‘passengers’ after being caught masturbating in a public toilet

Town Police Clauses Act 1987 - have to be passengers to arrest under those circumstances
Oxford English dictionary - ‘passenger’ could also mean ‘foot-passenger’ but police were not actually travelling at the time, were stationed

Public Health Amendment Act 1902 - ‘street could also mean any public place under the control of the local authority’

Question 31

Literal Rule: WHITELEY V CHAPPELL (1868)

Answer 31

Defendant charged under an act that made it illegal to impersonate anyone entitled to vote.

Defendant pretended to be a deceased person.

As the deceased aren’t entitled to vote, the literal rule was applied and the defendant acquitted.

Question 32

Literal Rule: LONDON & NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY CO V BERRIMAN (1946)

Answer 32

Railway worker who was maintaining the track died.

His widow sought compensation but statute stated she could only do so ‘for the purposes of relaying and repairing.’

He was joining the tracks not relaying or repairing - the literal rule applied and widow received nothing

Question 33

Literal Rule: Advantages

Answer 33

Respects the words of Parliament
Prevents judicial law making
Provides certainty in the law

Question 33

Literal Rule: Disadvantages

Answer 33

Assumes an act will be perfectly drafted
Words may have more than one meaning
Can lead to absurd results

Question 33

Golden Rule: GREY V PEARSON (1857)

Answer 33

Lord Wensleydale:
“The grammatical and ordinary sense of the word is to be adhered to, unless that would lead to some absurdity…in which case the grammatical and ordinary sense of the words may be modified so as to avoid that absurdity and inconsistency, but no further.”

Question 33

Golden Rule: R V ALLEN (1872)

Answer 33

Defendant charged with bigamy under the Offences against the Person Act 1861.

Court had to interpret the word ‘marry’ as ‘going through a marriage ceremony’ using the golden rule.

Defendants conviction was upheld.

If used literal rule, the offence could never have been committed, since no one married could marry another.

Question 34

Golden Rule: Advantages & Disadvantages

Answer 34

+ Allows judges to choose and provide the most sensible meaning
- Hard to predict when it’ll be used and is very limited in its use

Question 35

Mischief Rule: SMITH V HUGES (1960)

Answer 35

Used to interpret the Street Offences Act 1959.

Defendants were prostitutes trying to grab the attention of people in the street from a balcony.

Balcony technically not a public place.

Applied to interpret that the prostitutes were doing what the statute was trying to abolish so they were convicted.

Problem with the statute is that there is prostitution in general and not just on the street.

Question 36

Mischief Rule: Advantages and Disadvantages

Answer 36

+ Make sure the gaps in the law are filled and gives the most flexibility
- Judicial law making makes it biased

Question 37

Precedent

Answer 37

Judge makes a decision in a case which is followed in future cases which have similar material facts.

Question 38

Precedent: DONOGHUE V STEVENSON

Answer 38

While drinking ginger beer in a cafe, a woman found a decomposed snail.

Sued the manufacturers for negligence.

Held that manufacturers owed the customers a duty of care.

Had to be followed for future cases as high courts bind low courts.

Question 39

Judges can avoid precedent in three ways:

Answer 39

Reverse
Overrule
Distinguish