TOPIC 2 - CREATING LAWS Flashcards
What are the two main types of law which apply to crime?
- statutory law (governmental processes)
- case law (judicial processes)
What is a proposal for a new law called?
a Bill
What is the first step a Bill must go through to become law?
First hearing
- formally announced in House of Commons, initial vote held
What is the second step a Bill must go through to become law?
Second hearing
- if succeeds first vote, further vote held to proceed
What is the third step a Bill must go through to become law?
The Committee Stage
- group of MPs finalise the details of the bill, which is reported back to the House, and followed by a final reading and vote
What is the fourth step a Bill must go through to become law?
- The Report Stage
- report from committee is debated by house of commons, votes held on any amendments
What is the thith step a Bill must go through to become law?
- third hearing
final hearing + final vote on whether to pass or reject bill
What is the sixth step a Bill must go through to become law?
- Other House
will then go through all the previous stages again in the other house, sometimes bill will get passed between the houses which is known as ping pong.
What is the final step a Bill must go through to become law?
- Royal Assent
once all stages in both houses have been passed, the bill is given Royal Assent and is made of a formal act of parliament
What is the expanded knowledge of statutory law?
- Before a bill is even formed, governmental departments publish green papers which investigate the issue and white papers which draft an early version of the bill
What is one example of a bill?
- suspects bill which is currently in the second reading in the house of commons
- it aims to protect suspects identify when accused of a crime
How does judicial processes of law making create case law?
- through precedent and statutory interpretation
Core knowledge of judicial processes:
- precedent is when a decision is made in a court of law by a judge - this sets a new law which must be followed in all other courts of the same level when cases have similarities to previous ones
- this precedent creates fairness + consistency across all courts as it is binding
Expanded knowledge of judicial processes:
- statutory interpretation involves a judge interpreting a statutory law - this may be necessary if a law is outdated, unclear or lacks clarity
- this process also contributes to precedent
- according to the golden rule the judge can change the literal wording to avoid an absurd outcomes, or use the mischief rule to apply the law in the way it was intended
What is an example of case law formed through judicial processes?
R v R (1991)
- in this case a man tried to appeal a marital rape charge on the grounds of a very old precedent which claimed a man cannot rape spouse due to the concept of “irrevocable consent”.
- a court of appeal judge decided this was a very out of date idea and rejected the appeal and the man was convicted.
- it is now very clear that marital rape is against the law due to the new precedent that was set
