processes of law making

Question 1

What are the three stages of parliment

Answer 1

House of Commons
House of Lords
The Monarch

Question 2

what happens in the house of commons

Answer 2

most important part of parliment- made up of elective representatives
650 members of parliment, each represent a constituency.
MP’s can ask parlimentary questions, participate in debates or introduce new laws

Question 3

what happens in the house of lords

Answer 3

made up of hereditary peers
(people who have inherited their titles) and lifetime appointed peers who do not pass on their title after death.
809 hereditary peers and 678 lifetime appointed peers.
their job is to act as a check on new laws

Question 4

what happens in the monarch

Answer 4

monarch only has a formal role in law making- approving the finalised bill of parliment
The Queen gives royal Assent - Agreement to the new law.

Question 5

what is a bill

Answer 5

a proposal for a new law

Question 6

what are the stages of the government process when a new law is considered?

Answer 6

Green paper
White paper
goes to house of commons where there is a…
1st reading, 2nd reading, comittee stage, report stage.
goes to house of lords where there is a…
1st reading, 2nd reading, comittee stage, report stage, third reading
Royal Assent

Question 7

Other than parliment, who else can make a law and how

Answer 7

Judges and this is done through judicial precedent and stautory interpretation

Question 8

what is precedent

Answer 8

past decision of judges create law for future judges to follow with similar cases.

Question 9

what would happen if there is judicial precedent set in the court of appeal? how does it affect the supreme court

Answer 9

if set in the court of appeal it is binding on all courts below it. if the supreme court set it then the court of appeal will be bound by that.

Question 10

what are the two exemptions where a court doesnt hav eto follow precedent?

Answer 10

Distinguishing

Overruling

Question 11

what example can be used to show overruling precedent?

Answer 11

The Law On Marital Rape : RvR (1992)

Question 12

what is statutory interpretation

Answer 12

An alternative way in which judges can make law

Question 13

what are the three ways judges use to help them interpret the statute?

Answer 13

The Literal rule
The Golden rule
The Mischief rule

Question 14

what is The Literal rule

Answer 14

the first rule applied by judges.

judges should use everday ordinary meanings of words in a statute.

Question 15

One problem of the literal rule

Answer 15

A word may have different meanings

Question 16

Case example for the Literal rule

Answer 16

R v Maginnis (1987)

a case involving illegal drugs, different judges found different meanings for the word ‘supply’

Question 17

What is the Golden rule

Answer 17

the Golden rule allows the courts to modify the literal meaning to avoid this by looking for another meaning of the word

Question 18

case example for the Golden rule

Answer 18

Adler v George (1964)
under the Official Secrets Act 1920 it was an offence to obstruct the Armed Forces ‘in the vicinty’ of a prohibited place’. The court applied the golden rule to exend the literal wording of the statute the D was therefore convicted