legal system of England and wales

Question 1

what is a public (general) act of parliament?

Answer 1

acts that relate to matters of general public concern.
debated in both HofC and HofL

Question 2

what is a private (personal) act of parliament?

Answer 2

relates to particular places or to particular people
usually stem from proposal by a large organisation such as local authority or a large private company which wishes to acquire certain powers

Question 3

what is the process in each house for a bill?

Answer 3

• first reading
• second reading
• committee stage
• report stage
• third reading

Question 4

what happens at a first reading for a bill?

Answer 4

formality = bill title is read out and a date is set for a second reading

Question 5

what happens at a second reading for a bill?

Answer 5

the main principles of the bill are debated

Question 6

what happens at the committee stage of a bill?

Answer 6

detail of the bill is scrutinised by a legislative committee. (it can be amended)

Question 7

what happens are the report stage of a bill?

Answer 7

proposed amendments are debated and there is a vote on the committee’s report

Question 8

what happens at the third reading of a bill?

Answer 8

final debate and vote on the bill. if passed, it goes on to the other house

Question 9

when does an act of parliament commence? (eg, when does it take effect)

Answer 9

it takes effect from the day it receives royal assent

Question 10

what is the literal rule for statutory interpretation?

Answer 10

words in the statute are given their ordinary, plain and natural meaning

Question 11

what is the golden rule for statutory interpretation?

Answer 11

helps avoid the unnatural and sometimes absurd outcome from the literal rule - judges give words their ordinary significance unless it produces inconsistency or absurdity

Question 12

what is the mischief rule for statutory interpretation?

Answer 12

looking at the mischief/ defect for which the common law didn’t provide

Question 13

what is the purposive approach for statutory interpretation?

Answer 13

looking beyond the words in the legislation and looking at the purpose behind it

Question 14

what is the contemporary approach for statutory interpretation?

Answer 14

judges will look both at the strict and superficial meaning of the words used and at the underlying purpose of the legislation, normally as a single and largely subliminal mental process

Question 15

what is ‘expressio unius est exclusio alterius’?

Answer 15

the express mention of one thing excludes its extension to others
presumption is that such a list is a closed list

Question 16

what is ‘ejusdem generic’?

Answer 16

means ‘of the same kind’ or ‘genus’. where general words follow a list of specific words, the general words are interpreted so as to restrict them to the same kind of objects as the specific words.

Question 17

what is ‘noscitur a sociis’?

Answer 17

a word is known by the company it keeps - words of a statute are understood in the context of the statute itself