Parliamentary Legislation Flashcards
What are the 2 kinds of parliamentary legislation?
Primary (an Act of Parliament)
Secondary (a Statutory Instrument)
How does an Act come into being?
(1) It is a Bill
(2) It gets voted through both Houses of Parliament
(3) It gets Royal Assent
How do Staturory Instruments come into being?
Via an Act of Parliament which gives the govenment the power to pass an SI.
(1) SI laid before parliament
(2) Parliament either accepts or rejects it.
What is the ‘Literal Rule’ of interpretation?
The law is read in its very literal sense
What is the ‘golden rule’?
It states that when the language used in a statute is ambiguous or unclear, courts must interpret the words of the law so as to avoid a result that is absurd or untenable. In other words, the Golden Rule requires judges to strike a balance between the literal meaning of the words and the broader purpose and context of the law.
What is the ‘mischief rule’?
allows judges to consider the purpose of a law when interpreting its meaning. It c onsiders the problem parliament was trying to tackle by creating the Act. Allows more discretion that the literal rule and the golden rule.
What is the ‘purposive approach’?
Looks at the purpose for which this law was made, uses external sources such as government speeches to determine how to interpret.
What is english law like?
It is not retrospective - something that is made illegal now won’t make someone in the past a criminal for doing it, if it was legal at the time.
Every Act can be placed under judicial review, is this true?
Yes
What are the impacts of the Human Rights Act?
The court has to take into account any decision, declaration and advisory opinion of the ECtHR.
UK legislation has to be read, as far as is possible, in light of the ECHR. So, they can bend the law to achieve this effect.
If this is not possible, court may make a declaration of incompatability with the ECHR and then the law must be adapted (repealed and amended etc) to be read in this way.
