1.1 Describe Processes Used for Law Making

• Government Process

  The UK is a parliamentary democracy and most of the country's laws are made by passing Acts of Parliament

  • The Monarch - gives the Royal Assent
  • The House of Lords - members are called peers some hereditary but most life peers
  • the House of Commons - 650 MPs who represent the people of each constituency
• Green Paper

  • before putting a bill through Parliament, the govt. usually publishes a Green Paper
  • this is an initial report to provoke public discussion of the subject
• White Paper

  • after the Green Paper consultation, the govt. passes a White Paper
  • this is a document setting out their detailed plans for the legislation
  • it often includes a draft version of the Bill they intend to put before Parliament
• The stages a Bill must go through

  • First Reading - formal announcement of the Bill in Commons
  • Second Reading - Bill is read again and debated in the Commons, a vote is taken to allow progression
  • Committee Stage - small number of MPs examine the Bill
  • Report Stage - committee provide report to all MPs, vote on proposed amendments
  • Third Reading - opportunity to debate Bill
  • Lords - Bill is returned to Commons if amendments to be made, final say is Commons since they form elected party
  • Royal Assent - Bill is sent to the Monarch for signing, this is a required formality
• The Criminal Justice Act 2003

  • introduced change in double jeopardy rule following Ann Ming's successful campaign and the recommendations of the MacPherson Report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence
  • the change enable the killer of Ann Ming's daughter and of the killers of Lawrence to be tried again both were convicted
• The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

  • Usually, bills are scrutinised, but this act was rushed through Parliament due to increasing pressures from the media which caused moral panic
  • criticised because it "blames the breed, not the deed"
• Judicial Precedent

  • involves following decisions made by judges in previous similar cases
  • creates certainty, consistency, and fairness
  • a decision taken by a higher court automatically creates an original, binding precedent for all lower courts
  • exceptions to precedent are distinguishing and overruling
  • Distinguishing means that a judge finds the facts in the present case are different enough from earlier one to allow them to reach a different decision
  • Overruling is where a higher court states that the legal decision in an earlier case is wrong
• Statutory Interpretation

  • a statue is a written law and so judges need to interpret the meanings of its words and apply them to the case
  • the literal rule - judge gives all words in a statute their natural meaning at the time the law was written, meaning must e followed even if the result is absurd
  • the golden rule - if the literal rule has an absurd result, then the judge can substitute reasonable meaning in the light of the statute as a whole
  • the mischief rule - judge ignores the literal wording and makes decision based on what the law was intending to achieve