AC1 Flashcards
What role does the Monarch have in creating laws?
Royal Assent
- signing off of the law
- the final process of law making
What role does the House of Lords have in creating laws?
- Double check on laws
- Investigate issues and debates further after the House of Commons
(reduced balance of power comp to HOC)
Who are in the House of Lords?
- Peers
- 800 lords (92 hereditary (nepotism), 26 COE bishops, rest are life peers)
What role does the House of Commons have in creating laws?
- Debate the laws
- Holds the government to account ‘scrutiny’
(larger balance of power comp to HOL)
Who are in the House of Commons?
- Elected representatives
- 650 MPs each with their own constitution (the set of principles and rules by which a country is organised)
What is the Green Paper?
- Draft ideas for a change in law
- A consultation document on a topic where the gov put forward their ideas for reform
What is the White Paper?
- A firm proposal of the Bill, clearly stating how the law will work
- Comes after the consultation from the green paper
What is the legislative process?
- First Reading
- Second Reading
- Committee Stage
- Report Stage
- Third Reading
- House of Lords/Commons
- Royal Assent
3 problems with making laws through Government
- The HOL still has some hereditary which can be seen as unfair, old-fashioned and not inclusive
- MPs can choose to abstain from debates or go against the party whip
- It is too time consuming (not efficient - Lords can delay legislation and MPs can intentionally slow the debate of Bills)
What is a Judicial Precedent?
- where past decisions of judges create law for future judges to follow
- allows for uniformity in the law
- done by the Judge in the ‘summing up’ portion of the trial
An example of Judicial Precedent
Donoghue v Stevenson
- The court found they owed a duty of care and established the ‘neighbour principle’, which is the foundation for the law of negligence.
Exceptions to Judicial Precedent
Distinguishing
- The judge feels that the facts in the present case are different enough from an earlier one
Overruling & Court hierarchy
- If a judge feels an earlier decision was wrong they can overrule it, if the legal rule decided in an earlier case is wrong (e.g. Supreme Court) overrules a decision made by an earlier case by a lower court (e.g. Court of Appeal)
What is Statutory Interpretation?
The way judges understand and implement Acts of Parliament
- there is the potential for words and phrases to create uncertainty which can only be resolved by judicial interpretation
Example of Statutory Interpretation
- The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991– used the words ‘pit bull type’ dogs (yet dogs are officially classified by breed)
Statutory interpretation can lead to:
- Ambiguity –> when a word has two or more meaning it can be unclear which one should be used
- Drafting Errors –> the original draft of the bill may have included an error which Parliament have not noticed
