English Legal System: Influences on Parliament Flashcards
English Legal system
What is the Law Commission?
An independent body set up by the Law Commission Act 1965 to keep law in the UK under review so reforms can be suggested to make law more fair and modern.
What is codification?
the process of bringing together a legal act (or several related acts) and all its amendments into a single new act.
What is an example of codification?
The law of Murder and Homicide 2006 was incorporated into the Coroners Justice Act 2009.
What is a topic the Law commission recently worked on?
Digital assets: which law, which court will determine which law applies to tech-related disputes, and which court has jurisdiction to hear such disputes.
What is consolidation?
bringing together a number of existing Acts of Parliament on the same subject into one Act without changing the law in any way.
What is an example of consolidation?
The Education Act 1996
What is repeal?
The removal of laws that have no further use.
What are the advantages of the Law Commission?
It saves Parliament’s time as over 3000 act has been examined, found redundant and repealed.
Law is researched by legal experts as the Law Commission consists of experienced judges and barristers.
It is a political organisation so it has no political influence, its findings are public and it consults the public before writing a report.
What are the disadvantages of the Law Commission?
For non-urgent law reform, the Law Commission’s recommendations can be ignored by parliament and never implemented which wastes time and money, for example the Liability for Psychiatric illness (No. 249).
They have a lack of power because the government doesn’t need to consult the Law Commission on new laws.
How is media an influence on Parliament?
When an issue is given a high profile in the media, the government may bow to it.
What is an example when the media was successful in parliament?
Following the Dunblane massacre in 1996, private ownership of handguns were banned.
What are the advantages of the media?
They raise awareness of a topic that is important.
It helps the government convince the public to accept its electoral mandate.
What are the disadvantages of the media?
Potential bias can occur for example The Sun newspaper supports the conservatives.
Media companies can manipulate the news to create public opinion.
How are pressure groups an influence on parliament?
Pressure groups are people who share the same ideas and campaign for changes in law or policy.
What is an example when pressure groups were a successful influence on parliament?
In 2007, laws against smoking in public places were introduced because of public and medical opinion.
