Law Reform

Question 1

What are the 4 influences of law making

Answer 1

Political
Public opinion and media
Pressure groups and lobbyists
Public inquiries and emergancy situations

Question 2

Explain the political side of law making

Answer 2

-When a government is formed, it will have a programme of reforms it wishes to carry out.
-These will have been set out in party manifesto to persuade people to vote for it in the general election.
-E.g human rights act 1988 fulfilled Labour manifesto commitment to incorporate the European convention on human rights into UK law

Question 3

Explain the public opinion and the media influence on parliamentary law making

Answer 3

• public opinion is often expressed via the media on TV, newspapers, the internet etc.
• the media can add to the weight of public opinion by offering free press and increasing public awareness
  -e.g voyeurism act 2019

Question 4

Explain how pressure groups and lobbyist influence Law making

Answer 4

• pressure group is an organisation formed to bring their issues to the attention of the public and government
• pressure groups may seek influence by lobbying individual MPs, direct action e.g strikes or demonstrations, petitions, media and advertising to attract public sympathy
• e.g Hunting act 2004

Question 5

Explain how public inquiries and emergency situations influence Law making

Answer 5

• public inquiries investigate issues of public concern, scrutinising past decisions and events
• they are commissioned by the government and investigated by and independent panel
• e.g Firearms act 1997 that banned handguns in the UK

Question 6

What is the role of the Law commission

Answer 6

-Systematically keep all English under review and recommend reform where it is needed
- it is an independant body created by the law commission act 1965
- its aim to ensure that the law is fair, modern and simple
- law commission works to modernise and simplify the law by suggesting consolidation of existing law repeal of unnecessary or outdated law

Question 7

What does the law commission consist of ?

Answer 7

• A chair who is either a high court or an appeal court judge and four other commissioners who are experienced judges, barrister, solicitors or academics
• they are appointed by a lord chancellor and secretary of state justice for up to five years

Question 8

In law commission: what is consolidation ?

Answer 8

• Drawing together law that is contained in several acts of parliament into one act
• this is needed because is some ares of law there are a number of statutes, each of which sets out a small part of the total law
• enables the law to be more coherent and accessible e.g the contending act 2020 drew together 65 different acts of parliament into one single “sentencing code”

Question 9

In law commission: what is a repeal ?

Answer 9

• Removing outdated or absolute acts of parliament
• only parliament can repeal an act, but the law commission can advise about which acts it thinks should be repealed
• e.g the statue of Marlborough 1267 passed during the reign of Henry III in its 2015 statute law report the law commission proposed over 200 outdated acts

Question 10

In law commission: what is codification ?

Answer 10

• Brings together all law on one topic into one complete code of law to make law simpler and easier to find
• in 1965 the law commission drafted a criminal code which included all the mail general principles of criminal law
• however it has never been implemented and the law commission stated in 2008 that in future it would concentrate on smaller areas, as there is more chance the government will then adopt their recommendations