Law Making

• A green paper is an intention to change the law and outlines the format this change could take
• Parliament will then publish a white paper, which is a positive proposal on the format the new law will take. There is then a further chance for consultation before the final bill enters parliament.
• All acts of parliament begin as a bill, which is a proposal for change in the law, there are 3 types of bill: Public bill, private members bill, private bill.
• A public bill involves matters of general public interest. These bills will reflect the manifesto of the government in power at the time.
• Examples of Public bills include

  1. Children and social work act 2017
  2. Juries act 1974
  3. Finance act 2017
• Private members bills are sponsored by individual members of parliament. At each parliamentary session, 20 members are given the oppurtunity to present their bill to parliament very few private members bills become law, they rarely reflect the government's genral agenda.
• Examples of private member bills that have become law are:

  1. Abortion act 1967
  2. Marriage act 1994
  3. British sign language act 2022
• A Private bill is a law that is designed to affect only individual people or corporations.
• Examples of private bills are:

  1. University college london act 1996
  2. Whitehaven harbour act 2007
• When a bill is prepared, it is first presented to the uk parliament and then has to go through the legislative process before it officially becomes law.
• The title of the bill is read to the house of commons. This is called the first reading and acts s notification of the proposed measure.
• The second reading is the first oppurtunity for MP's to debate the main principles of the bill. At the end of the debate the house of commons votes on whether or not the legislation should proceed.
• The commmittee stage is is a detailed examination of the bill where every clause is agreed to, changed or removed.
• The committee will then report back to the house of commons, and any proposed amendments are debated and voted upon. This is called the report stage.
• The third reading is a final reading of the bill in the House of Commons but no ammendments can be made at this stage. This is simply a vote on whether to accept the legislation as it stands.
• In the House of Lords, the bill undergoes similar stages to those in the House of Commons. The only difference being that there is no time limit on how long they take to complete these stages.
• If the bill passes through both houses without major changes, it receives royal assent from the monarch which makes it an act of parliament.
• The UK doesn't have a written constitution. This means it has no single document which sets out it's fundamental laws outlining how the state works. Therefore relying on 3 key principles.

  1. Parliamentary sovereignty
  2. The rule of law
  3. Seperation of powers
• Parliament is sovereign and can make or unmake any law on any subject without legal constraints
• No parliament can bind another and an act of parliament can be repealed by the next parliament.
• No act can be challenged by court nor it's validity questioned. The only way to challenge an act made by ministers is by judicial review.
• Threats to Diceys theory:

  1. Membership of the EU
  2. Human rights act 1998
  3. Devolution
• The EU law overrides any UK law made before or after the UK joined the EU in 1972.
• The human rights at 1998 made it legal requirement that all public authorities must behave in a way that doesn't infringe on human rights