Parliamentary Law Making

Question 1

Define Legislation:

Answer 1

Legislation is the process of Parliament making laws

Question 2

Who is parliament made up of ?

Answer 2

Parliament is made up of the House of Commons, House of Lords and the Monarch and all 3 have a role in the legislation process

Question 3

Who are each chambers made up of ?

Answer 3

The House of Commons is the elected chamber in Parliament and comprises of MP’s who are members of the government and the opposition parties

The HOL’s consists of unelected life peers and bishops

The Monarch opens each parliamentary session where she gives a speech about the proposed law and gives royal assent. She appoint/dismisses the prime minister

Question 4

What are the early stages of the legislation process ?

Answer 4

Idea stage - idea for new law can come from many sources such as law commission, royal commission, manifesto promises

Consultation stage - interested parties give comments on the proposal

Green Paper- discussion document sets out the idea for the new law but also alternatives. No commitment yet

White paper - finalised version of idea produced as a white paper which is gov’s ‘statement of intent’

Drafting stage- idea written into legal terminology, has now become a bill and is ready to be presented to parliament

Question 5

What are the different types of bills and who do they affect ?

Answer 5

3 types: Private , Public and Hybrid

Private - do not usually affect whole country, may be introduced by large company, local council or public corporation that require act of parliament to build new road or factory

Public- Affects the whole country
> Government bill - Government pass laws that ideas come from the manifesto promises etc
>Private members bill - backbench MP’s get to present their bills to the rest of the house in 10mins e.g. Murder Act abolished death penalty

Hybrid- combination but only affect certain indivs and bodies
Hybrid

Question 6

What is the legislative process ?

Answer 6

First reading
second reading
committee stage
report stage 
third reading 
HOL - repeat
Royal assent

Question 7

What are two advantages that in the exam you can explain more in detail ?

Answer 7

1. Democratic law making process and publicly elected government
2. Law is debated, scrutinised and amended

Question 8

What are two disadvantages you can explain more in detail during the exam ?

Answer 8

1. Time taken to make the law - takes many months to even go through the 5 stages in both houses of parliament
2. Lack of clarity - obscure/complex language e.g. dangerous dogs act and wording ‘type’ , resulting in many cases of Statutory interpretation to find meanings of words in Act to apply the law to the case