Nature Of Law (Week 1) Flashcards
What are the main sources of law?
i.e. where does law come from?
1) European Law
2) Parliament
3) Courts
How are Acts of Parliament made?
(Stages to become a law)
Acts of Parliament start as bills and can be started in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
A bill must go through the following stages to become law:
1) First reading
2) Second reading
3) Committee stage
4) Report stage
5) Third reading
6)This process is repeated in the other houses
7) After consideration of amendments and Royal Assent they become law.
What is delegated legislation?
Laws that are made by other bodies (not made by parliament).
What are the 3 main types of delegated legislation?
1) Orders in Council
- Made by the Privy Council in times of emergency (avoids going through the full process)
2) Statutory Instruments
- Created by government departments (E.g. Food safety laws)
3) Byelaws
- Made by local authorities to regulate any facilities they provide (E.g. Transport for London
What systems are in place to help judges interpret statutes?
1) Intrinsic aids
- Sometimes words are defined within the statute itself.
2)External aids
- Anything outside the Act that helps to clarify the meaning of the Act (E.g. A report from Parliament).
3) Judicial principles of statutory interpretation
- Contextual, literal, golden, mischief and purposive)
4) Judicial presumptions
- E.g. any Act carried out before the Act was created will not be an offence under the Act.
The golden rule is :
A) A rule regarding etiquette amongst the judiciary
B) A rule relating to the doctrine of precedent
C) A rule to aid statutory interpretation
D) A rule relating to the time length allowed for cases
C) A rule to aid statutory interpretation
Which of the following is NOT a form of delegated legislation?
A) Orders in Council
B) Statutory Instruments
C) Public Bills
D) Byelaws
C) Public Bills
Which of the following is the highest form of law in England?
A) Common Law
B) Legislation
C) Case Law
D) Equity
B) Legislation
Legislation passed by somebody other than Parliament is referred to as ______________ legislation.
A) Distributed
B) Delegated
C) Devolved
D) Alternative
B) Delegated
Judges may interpret a statute by using different rules. Which of the following is not a rule of interpretation?
A) Golden Rule
B) Literal Rule
C) Mischief Rule
D) General Rule
D) General Rule
Which of the following are sources of law?
i) EU law
ii) Parliament
iii) The Courts
iv) Academic journals
A) i, ii and iii
B) i, iii and iv
C) ii, iii and iv
D) i, ii and iv
A) i, ii and iii
Which of the following powers does Parliament have?
A) To create law
B) To revoke law
C) To alter law
D) Parliament can do all of the above
D) Parliament can do all of the above
Which of the following is not an advantage of delegated legislation?
A) Saves parliamentary time
B) Legislation can be created outside of parliamentary time
C) Parliament is removed from the process
D) It allows specialist knowledge to be used to create specific legislation
C) Parliament is removed from the process
(We elect parliament to make the law)
Consider which of the following is correct when considering how a bill becomes an Act of Parliament.
A) A bill can start in the House of Commons
B) A bill can start in the House of Lords
C) A bill can only become an Act after it receives Royal Assent
D) All of the above are correct
D) All of the above are correct
What is an Intrinsic aid?
A) It is another name for the contextual approach to statutory interpretation
B) It is a report from the Law Commission
C) It is an aid to interpretation contained in the Act itself
D) It is a Parliamentary report
C) It is an aid to interpretation contained in the Act itself
