AC 1.1 Flashcards
What are the three sections of Parliament in the UK?
- The Monarchy
- The House of Lords
- The House of Commons
Who are the members of the House of Lords referred to as?
Peers
How many peers are there in the House of Lords?
800
Once taken from families of the nobility, from father to son = hereditary peers
- Only 92 of these today
- 26 taken from Church of England
- Remainder (682) are life peers
What is the role of life peers in the House of Lords?
Act as a double check on a new law before it is passed into legislation
How many MPs are elected to the House of Commons?
650
Decided by the prime minister who enters the house of Lords
What is the government process of law making?
Made in parliament by consultation, debating and voting
What are the 3 important stages in government processes?
When a new law is considered, theres a public consultation in the form a Green Paper
From this a White Paper with formal proposals for
reform is produced
Allows a draft act called a Bill to be presented to parliament
What is the order of stages of law?
First reading
Second reading
Committee stage
Report stage
Third reading
Royal assent
What is the first stage in the law-making process?
First Reading: proposed bill is introduced in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords
A formal procedure that simply states the title of the Bill and no debate takes place
What occurs during the Second Reading of a Bill?
A debate takes place on the general principles of the Bill
Members of parliament or lords can discuss the main points of the Bill and highlight any concerns they may have
- a vote is then taken and if the Bill passes, it moves onto the next stage
What happens during the Committee Stage of a Bill?
Bill examined in detail by MPs and Lords and members can propose amendments
Bill scrutinised clause by cause
Can take evidence from outside experts and interested parties to produce a report of changes
What is the purpose of the Report Stage in the law-making process?
Bill returns to the house to debate and vote on amendments made in the Committee Stage
Further amendments can be proposed
What is the Third reading in the law-making process?
Bill voted on by all members. If it passes, it moves to the other house for a similar process
What is required for a Bill to become law after passing through both Houses?
Royal Assent
Monarch approves the bill becoming an act of parliament and is law
What are samples of criminal statues?
The Crime Sentences act 1977 - mandatory minimum sentencing for a range of repeat offences: automatic life for 2nd serious sexual offences
The Dangerous Dogs act 1991 - To outlaw dogs deemed to be dangerous to the public
What is judicial precedent?
When past legal cases and their judgments are used to inform a current case
Helps to ensure uniformity and a sense of constancy about legal decisions
When can judicial precedent not be followed?
- If a new law has been passed
- If the case isn’t similar enough to the previous case
- If a higher court has overruled the decision
Whats a case study where judicial precedent wasnt followed?
Law and martial rape
- in 1992, case of R V R was heard in court
- Husband taken to court for attempted rape of his wife and found guilty
Appealed, stating a view that the wife became the husbands property thus her consent wasnt required
What’s a case study for judicial precedent?
Donoghue and Stevenson
- 2 friends visited a cafe and one drank a bottle of ginger beer that had remains of a decomposing snail in it
- Woman fell ill and sued the manufacturer
- Won the case and court decided a duty of care was owed by the manufacturer to the woman
What principle was established in the case Donoghue v Stevenson?
The ‘neighbour principle’
- Case founded the modern day law of negligence
What is common law?
Judge made law
Appliance of law consistently by judges with the same principles making it common in all cases.
- unless permitted by the supreme court to overule/distinguish
What is statutory interpretation?
Where judges interpret words and phrases in statutes as they see fit
Typically in superior courts such as Court of Appeal and Supreme court
Various rules and aids to help them
What’s a case study for statutory interpretation?
Whiteley VS Chappell
- Defendant charged with an offence of impersonating a person entitled to vote
- Defendant had pretended to be a person who was on the voters list but the person had died
- Court decided the defendant wasnt guilty since a dead person isnt entitled to vote
What is the Literal Rule in statutory interpretation?
Judges should use the everyday, ordinary meaning of the words in the statute in their decision making
Judges shouldnt deviate from literal meanings of words as it can risk inconsistencies in decision making
What are case studies for the Literal Rule?
R V Maginnis
- Issues surrounding illegal drugs and different judges found different meanings in the word ‘supply’
R V Harris
- Defendant bit the nose off the victims
- The statute stated the offence was ‘to stab or wound’
- Under The Literal Rule, biting isnt stabbing, cutting or wounding (implying the use of an instrument)
- Defendant proven not guilty
What does the Golden Rule allow judges to do?
Modify the literal meaning of a word to avoid absurd outcomes
Modification of literal rule to avoid debate
What’s a case study of the Golden Rule?
Under **the Official Secrets Act 1920 **(now 1989)
Adler V George
- Adler argued that he hadnt broken the law by being in a vicinity of a prohibited place but was actually in it
- The court adopted the golden rule approach and he was convicted of being somewhere where he shouldnt have been
What is the Mischief Rule?
Allows the Court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve rather than what it actually states
What’s a case study for the Mischief Rule?
Under the Licensing Act (1872): an offence to be drunk in charge of a carriage on the highway
Corkey V Carpenter
- Corkey found guilty of being drunk on a highway
- Tried to argue that he wasnt in a carriage but on a bicycle instead
- Court used the Mischief Rule to convict them, stating that the purpose of the law was to prevent people from using any foirm of transport on a public highway when drunk
- So the type of vehicle was of no consequence
