AC1.1

Question 1

What are the two main sources of the law?

Answer 1

Government (Parliament) and Judiciary

Question 2

What are laws often referred to as?

Answer 2

status or legislations are made by passing Acts of Parliament

Question 3

What parties make up the government process of law making?

Answer 3

House of commons
House of lords
the government
the Monarch

Question 4

What is a proposal for a new law called?

Answer 4

A bill, must be agreed by both House of Parliament and receive the Royal Assent before they become laws.

Question 5

What is Green paper?

Answer 5

Before putting a bill before parliament, the government usually publish a green paper. It is a initial report to provoke public discussion of the subject.
e.g. double jeopardy, fox hunting, death penalty, homosexuality etc

Question 6

What is White paper?

Answer 6

This is published after consultation, it is a document setting out their detailed plans for legislation. Includes a draft version of the bill they intend to put before parliament.

Question 7

What is the first stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 7

First reading - Government introduces Bill into the HoC. This is just a formal announcement of Bill and is followed by a vote.

Question 8

What is the second stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 8

Second reading - main principles are considered and debated by HoC and a vote is taken. If the government wins this vote, the bill moves on to the next stage.

Question 9

What is the third stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 9

Committee stage - Bill is examined in detail by a small committee made up of MPs. They report back to the whole House and will often propose amendments.

Question 10

What is the fourth stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 10

Report stage - This gives MPs an opportunity to consider the committees report and to debate and vote on any amendments they might wish to make to the bill.

Question 11

What is the fifth stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 11

Third reading - Final chance for the commons to debate the bills contents. The house votes either to pass or reject the bill.

Question 12

What is the sixth stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 12

The Lords - Bill goes to the HoL, where it goes through the same stages as in the commons. If Lords amended the Bill it must return to the commons so the MPs can decide whether to accept or reject the lords amendment. HoC has final say.

Question 13

What is the seventh stage of the parliamentary bill?

Answer 13

Royal Assent - Monarch signs the Bill, it is their agreement to make the bill into an Act of Parliament or law and is a formality. New law will now come into force immediately unless act specifics that it will only apply at a later date (commencement order)

Question 14

What is judicial precedent?

Answer 14

Past decisions of judges are followed by the court hierarchy of courts. It is based on the principle of standing by or following what judges have decided in previous cases (known as stare decisis).
When point of law in a case today is the same as in the previous case, the judges should follow the decision made in the previous one - leading to certainty, consistency and fairness.

Question 15

What happens when a decision is made in a higher court?

Answer 15

This automatically creates an original or binding precedent for all lower courts - one they have to follow when dealing with similar cases.

Question 16

What happened in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson?

Answer 16

Court held that Mr Stevenson, manufacturer of ginger beer, owed a duty of care to Mrs Donoghue, who was a consumer of the product, even though she had not purchased the bottle herself.
This case established the fundamental principle of the duty of care and laid the foundations for the modern concept of negligence.
Case also played a role in shaping legal frameworks for personal injury claims and responsibilities of manufactures towards consumers.

Question 17

What is distinguishing?

Answer 17

a precedent from a earlier case is only binding on a present case if the legal principle involved is the same and if the facts are similar in both cases.
Means that the judge find the facts in the present case are different from the earlier one to allow them to reach a different decision and not have to follow the precedent of the earlier case.

Question 18

What is overruling?

Answer 18

Where a court higher up the hierarchy states that a legal decision in a earlier case is wrong and overturns it, e.g. the Supreme court can over rule a lower court decision when it hears an appeal.

Question 19

What is statutory interpretation?

Answer 19

This is when judges give a meaning to the words of an Act of Parliament when they are delivering their judgement in court. Over the years different rules/approaches of interpretation have been developed.

Question 20

What is the Literal rule and what is a case example of it?

Answer 20

Judges should use the ordinary meaning of the words in a statute even if it leads to an absurd, harsh or ridiculous result. This gives judges no discretion when interpreting legislation and it is a traditional rule. However a problem is that a word can have several different literal dictionary meanings.
E.g. R v Maginnis 1987, a case involving illegal drugs, different judges found different meanings of the word ‘supply’

Question 21

What is the golden rule and what is a case example of it?

Answer 21

Is a modification of the Literal rule. Judges look at the literal meaning of a word, but the judge is then allowed to avoid an interpretation which would lead to a absurd result.
E.g. Adler v George (1964), Adler agued he had not broken the law because he was not literally in the vicinity of a prohibited place, but was actually in it. Court chose to apply the golden rule to avoid a absurd result and Adler was convicted.

Question 22

What is the Mischief rule and what is a case example of it?

Answer 22

Allows the court to see what the law was before the act as passed, to discover what the Act was intended to cover. Courts should then interpret the act in such a way that the gap is covered to give effect to the intention of parliament.
E.g. Smith v Hughes 1960, judges had to interpret the street offences act 1959 - ‘it shall be a offence for a common prostitute to loiter or solicit in a street or public places for the purpose of prostitution.’