AC 1.1- Describe Processes used for Law Making Flashcards
How are the majority of laws made in England and Wales?
Made through parliament, who will debate, amend and vote on bills
What are the two houses in parliament and what is the difference between them?
House of Lords, upper house, appointed for life by monarch or hereditary. House of Commons, lower house, elected to represent local area (650 MPs)
What does the Monarch do in parliament?
Gives a bill royal ascent to make it an official law, head of state but does not create laws, cannot refuse to pass a law this is only ceremonial (figurehead since 1707)
What is the order of events that a bill will go through to become law?
Green paper, white paper, first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third reading, passed to other house, royal assent
What is the difference between a green paper and a white paper?
A green paper is the initial idea on a law that needs to be reformed or created, this is then formalized and turned into a white paper
What happens in the first and second reading?
In the first reading the name and purpose of the bill will be read out, before a vote, in the second reading MPs will debate the bill before voting again
What happens at the committee and report stage?
In the committee stage a smaller group of MPs will go over the bill with a fine comb to ensure everything is in order, this will then be reported back to the rest of the house in the report stage
What happens at the third reading?
MPs take the final vote on the bill, if this is successful it will then be passed over to the other house (i.e. if started in the HoC it will move to the HoL)
How is the committee stage different in the House of Lords?
All lords will go over the bill and discuss what needs to be changed rather than an individual committee
What is meant by judicial precedent?
When judges make a ruling on a case that has not been seen in the justice system before, their decision will form the new law and must be followed by judges in future cases that are similar
In what case was the neighbour principle from Donoghue v Stephenson followed and why?
Daniels v White, both involved a customer and manufacturer who’s drinks contained foreign substances that should not have been there, therefore a duty of care was owed
What does common law mean?
Judge made law, due to hierarchy of courts lower courts must abide by the judge made law of higher courts
How can judges avoid following a past decision and what would an example of this be?
Distinguishing, overruling and reversing, for example decision in a case may be old from when ideas were different, or the cases may not be sufficiently similar
What does statutory interpretation mean?
Judge from a superior court will interpret what the law says by looking at the statute it comes from, looking at wording and phrases as well as using different aids
How was the law interpreted in the case of Whiteley v Chappell?
The law made it an offence to ‘impersonate any person entitled to vote’ the defendant used the name of a dead person to vote and was charged, however using the literal rule the judge said since dead people could not vote, the defendant was not guilty
