Describe Processes Used For Law Making Flashcards
Which are the two main ways that laws are made?
Government processes - the main way in parliament
Judicial processes - by the more superior judges in the higher courts during a case
what are government processes when they are made?
An act of parliament
What is a bill?
A proposed law
What is the government process/ how does it work?
The green paper is the beginning, the white paper is the former proposals.
The bill will enter parliament, the monarch will then sign it and it becomes an act of parliament and a date of commandment will be given.
(This has to go through both houses)
What do judges do in criminal cases? Give a case example:
Decide the sentence
Inform the Judy of the law
Act as a mediator between the prosecution and defence.
Case example = R V R - judge made a law about rape of a wife.
What are the two ways judicial law making can be?
Judicial precedent
Statutory interpretation
Explanation of judicial law making
Law made by judges in the courts when a case appears before them they must make a judgement and this forms the law. It then must be followed in future cases.
What happens if there is no previous case to follow? - judicial law making
A judge must make original precedent and decide what the rule or law should be.
Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)
Two friends visited a cafe
One drank a bottle of ginger beer
Remains of bottle were poured into the glass
Decomposed snail came out
The women fell ill
So she sued the manufacturer
And won the case
The neighbour principle was then created
Daniels v white (1938)
The claimant bought a bottle of lemonade and drank it
Felt a burning reaction in his throat
Lemonade contained a corrosive metal
D v s - was used to sue for compensation even though the case was slightly different. It was near enough for the purposes of precedent.
Judicial processes -
How must the judges apply the law?
Consistently and use the same principles in similar cases. The law must be common in all cases.
How is hierarchy used in the judicial process?
The lower courts must abide by the decisions from higher courts.
Although, there are options for not following a past decision I.e distinguishing or overruling although, this is only permitted by the very senior courts such as the Supreme Court.
Statutory interpretation - what is it?
A second way a judge makes law.
When words or phrases are unclear what will a judge in a senior court have to do?
Interpret them
A judge has different rules to help interpret rules in a statute. Give an example:
Literal rule
