AC 1.1

Question 1

The Commons

Answer 1

Most important part of the parliament, elect MPs to represent an area of the country

Question 2

Bill

Answer 2

Proposal for a new law

Question 3

Green Paper

Answer 3

Initial report to trigger public discussion. Get individual and organisations to respond to

Question 4

White Paper

Answer 4

Draft version of the bill to be put before the parliament

Question 5

The First Reading

Answer 5

Government introduces the bill into the commons. Formal announcement of the bill

Question 6

The Second Reading

Answer 6

Debate in the house of commons and a vote is taken. If a majority of MPs agree the bill goes to the next stage

Question 7

The Committee Stage

Answer 7

The bill is looked at by MPs from different parties and changes may be made.

Question 8

The Report Stage

Answer 8

Give the MPs an opportunity to look at the changes that have been made and vote if they agree with the changes.

Question 9

The Third Reading

Answer 9

Final chance for the commons to debate the bills content. No further changes are allowed to be made

Question 10

The Lords

Answer 10

Goes to the House of Lords, the lords go through the same stages as the commons and if they make amends to the bill it goes back to the House of Commons.

Question 11

Royal Assent

Answer 11

Ones passed by both houses it is then signed by the monarch. This then turns the bill into a law.

Question 12

What are the judicial processes of law making

Answer 12

-Judicial precedent
-Statutory interpretation

Question 13

What is judicial precendent

Answer 13

Past decisions of judges create laws for future judges to follow

Question 14

Exceptions to precedent

Answer 14

-Distinguishing
-Overruling

Question 15

Distinguishing

Answer 15

The precedent only binds to the present case if the legal principle involved is the same and if the facts are similar in both cases. When you distinguish the case the judge finds that the facts in the present case are different from the previous case and will allow them to reach a different decision and not follow precedent

Question 16

Overruling

Answer 16

A higher court in the heirarchy states that a legal decision in an earlier case is wrong and overturns it

Question 17

Statutory interpretation

Answer 17

Judges can make laws by the way they interpret the statutes or Acts of Parliament.
A statute is a written law.
Judges need to interpret the meaning of words and apply them to the cases they are judging.

Question 18

Interpretation rules

Answer 18

•The literal rule
•The golden rule
•The mischief rule

Question 19

The literal rule

Answer 19

Judges should use the everyday meaning of the words in a satute BUT words can have several meanings.
Eg. R v Maginnis (1987)-case involving illegal drugs-different meanings were found for the word supply.

Question 20

The golden rule

Answer 20

The literal rule can sometimes lead to absurd result.
E.g. Under the Official Secrets Act (1920) it was an offence to obstruct Her Majesty’s Forces in the vicinity of (near to) a prohibited place, such as a naval base.
In the case Adler v George (1964) Adler stated he had not broken the law because he was not literally in the vicinity of a prohibited place but was actually in it. The court chose to apply the golden rule to avoid an absurd result and Adler was convicted.

Question 21

The mischief rule

Answer 21

Allows the court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve, rather than what the word actually says.

Eg Licensing Act (1872) makes it an offence to be drunk in charge of a carriage on the highway.
In Corkery v Carpenter (1951), Corkery was found guilty even though he had been in charge of a bicycle