AC1.1 Flashcards
What is parliament made up of?
Parliament is made up of three parts:
• The House of Commons, the elected representatives who have been voted by the people in the election
• The House of Lords contain some hereditary peers (Lords) and many lifetime appointed peers who don’t pass their title after death such as Sir Alan Sugar and Baroness Doreen Lawrence (Stephen Lawrence’s mother)
• The Monarchy (queen or king) who provides approval to the finalized bill
What are the government process?
When a new law is considered there is a public consultation in the form of a Green Paper from this a White Paper with formal proposals for reforms. This allows a draft act called a bill which is presented in parliament and then the process stages follow
What are the stages of government processes?
- First reading: where the name of the bill and its main aim are read out and a formal vote is taken
- Second reading: The main debate takes place followed by another vote
- Committee stage: A chosen group of representatives looks closely at the Bill to adress any issues and suggest appropriate amendments
- Report stage: The committee report back to the full House who then vote on the promised amendments
- Third reading: The final vote on the bill
- All stages are repeated in the other house
- Royal Assent: The Monarch signs the bill and she can’t refuse as it is now a symbolic stage as the Head of State
- The bill becomes an Act of Parliament and the commencement date is given.
Examples of of criminal legislation
- The Criminal Sentences Act (2003)- introduced minimum mandatory sentences for repeat offenders such as automatic life for second serious sexual or violent offenders
- The Criminal Justice Act (2003)- Abolished double jeopardy as a result of Ann Ming’s campaign
- The Dangerous Dogs Act (1991)- Passed due to a couple of weeks of moral panic. It wasn’t given due to many flaws such as blaming it on the breed
Judicial Process: Judicial precedent
It is law made by judges in the courts. When a case appears before them, they must make a judgement, and this forms the law which must be followed in future similar cases.
As we saw in AC3.1 this means there is point of law in a case is the same in a previous case, the judge should follow the decision made in the previous. THIS CREATES FAIRNESS AND CONSISTENCY
Judges need to apply the law consistently and use the same principles.
Must be common law i.e., lower courts must abide by the decisions from higher courts.n There are exemptions though
Examples of judicial precedent
- Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)- Two friends visited a café and one drank a bottle of ginger that had remains of a decomposing snail in. The woman fell il and sued the manufacturer she won her case. The court decided a duty of care was owned by the manufacturer to the woman. Known as the ‘neighbour principle’ the case founded the modern day’ law of negligence
- Daniels v White (1938)- The claimant brought a bottle of lemonade and when it was drunk, he felt a burning reaction in his throat. The lemonade was found to have a corrosive metal in it. This case was used when suing for compensation even through the facts were slightly different. It was sufficiently similar for the purpose of the precedent
Examples of exemptions the judicial precedent
Exceptions include distinguishing or overruling. However, this only permitted by the very senior courts such as the Supreme Court. When there is no precedent, the judge must make a decision and give an original precedent.
Example of distinguishing: When the judge finds facts in the case that are different from the earlier one to reach a different decision and not have to follow the precedent of the earlier case
Example of overruling: The law on martial rape is an example of overruling a precedent. A couple is seen as equal partners in marriage today they overturned this in 1991. • If cases are appealed especially on a Point of Law, it is possible for a judicial law making to take place. For instance in the case of R v R the judicial ruling ensured that marital rape was a criminal offence.
Judicial processes: Statutory interpretation
• An alternative way a judge can make a law is through this process, where the judges in superior courts such as the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court are sometimes called upon to interpret words and phrases within a statute.
There are three rules: literal, golden and mischief
Judicial processes: Statutory interpretation- The literal rule
There is the literal rule, Judges should use everyday ordinary meaning of words in the statute.
They have various rules and aids to help them do this and can interpret in a way they see fit. This could be seen as creating laws by the judiciary such
e.g., Whitely v Chappell (1868) the defendant had pretended to be a person on the voters’ list, but that person had died. The court held the defendant was not guilty since a dead person is not ‘entitled to vote’
Judicial processes: Statutory interpretation- The golden rule
Sometimes, the literal rule can lead to an absurd result and the golden rule allows the court to modify the literal meaning to avoid this:
For example, under the Official Secrets Act (1920), it was an offence to obstruct Her Majesty’s Forces ‘in the vicinity of’ (i.e. near to) a prohibited place, such as a naval base.
In the case of Adler v George (1964), Adler argued that he had not broken the law because he was not in the vicinity of a prohibited place but was in it. The court chose to apply the golden rule to avoid an absurd result and Adler was convicted.
Judicial processes: Statutory interpretation- The mischief rule
The mischief rule allows the court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve, rather than what the word actually say.
For example, the 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 overseen a bicycle, not a carriage. The court used the mischief rule to convict him, arguing that the Acts purpose was to prevent people from using any form of transport on the public highway when drunk - not just carriages.
