Legislation- where do all our laws come from?

Question 1

Primary legislation

Answer 1

is statute which has been enacted by parliament - statute in this case such as the Offences Against the Person Act (1861)

Question 2

Parliament is made up of two houses

Answer 2

the house of lords and the house of commons

The role of both houses is to both complement and scrutinize the other as well as debating current issues

Question 3

house of commons

Answer 3

made up of elected individuals, generally every 5 years reelection whereas the house of lords is not

 House of Commons - Keith Vaz (Lei East - Labour) Jon Ashworth (Lei South – Labour) Liz Kendall (Lei West – Labour)

Question 4

house of lords

Answer 4

Lord Sugar, Baroness Brady. Unelected, often still working

Question 5

2 types of parliamentary legislation

Answer 5

summary and indictable

Question 6

summary legislation

Answer 6

(less serious) could be tried at magistrate’s court are legislated by ‘statutory instruments’ or ‘subordinate laws’. Summary legislation effectively ‘piggybacks’ off of major Acts of Parliament and allows Ministers to create law which is far more technical and specified than an Act would permit – s59 Anti-Social Behavior Crime and Policing Act 2014 governs dog fouling and the fine for that

Question 7

Indictable legislation

Answer 7

(covers the bigger stuff, murder, Brexit etc) created by Parliament – unless it’s case law…in which case it is created by courts

Question 8

how does a parliament create law

Answer 8

Before a Law is a Law/Act of Parliament/Statute it is a ‘bill’
Note: anything concerning money/taxes MUST start in the house of lords

This process varies in time depending on the law being created.
Royal assent is when the queen confirms and agrees with the law and then this follows with a ceremony.

Question 9

how does parliament create law process

Answer 9

bill starting in house of commons-
(house of commons)
1- first reading
2-second reading 
c- committee stage
R- report stage
3- third reading
(house of lords)
1- first readong
2- second reading
c- committee stage
r- report stage
3- third reading
A- consideration of amendments
Royal assent 

Bill starting in the house of lords
(house of lords)
1- first reading
2-second reading 
c- committee stage
R- report stage
3- third reading
(house of commons)
1- first readong
2- second reading
c- committee stage
r- report stage
3- third reading
A- consideration of amendments

Question 10

where can I find our law?

Answer 10

 Unlike most countries, most famously the U.S – we do not have a written constitution. It is only us, New Zealand and Israel that do not have some sort of document somewhere, outlining the ‘rules’
 What we do have is an unwritten one, formed of Acts of Parliament, court judgements and conventions - also known as an ‘uncodified’ system
 A key feature of this is conventions – which control interactions between government, courts and other institutions but have not been written into laws – such as the supremacy of parliament

Question 11

supremacy of parliament- who’s in charge?

Answer 11

There is a concept in Law, known as ‘Legislative Supremacy’ which means that the law-making powers of parliament are (mainly) supreme - enacted by the Bill of Rights (1698)

This also means that current governments cannot legislate in a way in which would bind or restrict future iterations of it

The courts must give effect to the most recent expression of parliaments will

As well as this, parliamentary law will also then remain supreme

This has been slightly modified by our membership within the European Union, and although this has little effect on criminal law - it does impact supremacy

Question 12

legislation vs common law

Answer 12

• Common law is effectively the law created by case development through court system
• There are advantages to acts of parliament over Common Law;
• If there is a new law to be passed, or something needs to be changed in response to something (consider Brexit) then an Act is the most effective way in which they can be done
• It can be done quickly, without waiting for the issue to come up in court and allows for specialists to come and discuss the issue
• Acts of Parliament cannot be retrospective as in, you cannot legislate on things that have happened in the past – aka conduct which may have been legal in the past
• Case law, however can and often is retrospective
• Statute has the chance to be far more accessible than case law, but unfortunately for the lay person (us) still tends to be taxing in its understanding for all of us who weren’t involved in the entire conception of it

Question 13

statutory interpretation

Answer 13

• An Act is difficult to understand and know what it means when you read it
• The courts therefore step in to provide understanding if the legislation – when a case comes in front of them, they can then interpret the legislation to ensure that a universal understanding can be reached
• The courts apply context to legislation to ensure that is applied fairly and accurately

Question 14

Golden rule

Answer 14

rarely used- when the literal rule isn’t appropriate)

Question 15

literal rule

Answer 15

uses the definition of the term from the dictionary

Question 16

mischievous rule

Answer 16

e.g carriage means scooter, bike etc

Question 17

prorogation, the Supreme Court and is parliament illegal?

Answer 17

• Prorogation is not itself unusual, it effectively just marks the end of a parliamentary session and happens before a new parliament sits
• It also effectively ‘kills’ all bills which are currently in process – anything which hasn’t received royal assent dies – UNLESS a ‘carry over’ motion is passed