Statute Law

• What is Statute Law?

  • an act of parliament
  • a bill that has been approved by the commons and almost always the lords
  • the highest form of law in the uk
• What is Constitutional statute law?

  • arguably more important than ‘ordinary’ statute law
  • BUT - not explicitly set out as constitutional statute law = (debatable)
  • puts into law some power / action of the government
• House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975

  • sets out which people cannot be MPs

  eg. judges, civil servant, police constables etc.

  • limits the number of ministers in the commons to 95
• Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975

  • sets out the maximum numbers of paid ministerial posts

  i.e 109

  • sets out the pay for other posts such as lord chancellor and Speaker
• Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011

  • elections must be held every 5 years, at a pre determined date
  • exceptions in the case of votes of no confidence or a two- thirds majority vote by the commons

  (2017 general election)
• Representation of the People 1969

  • lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
  • allowed uni students to vote in their uni town
• Representation of the People act 1983

  • limited election expenses + limited candidates to one free mail-shot
  • prisoners unable to vote
  • illegal to publish false statements about candidates’ characters
• Representation of the people act 1985

  • british expats would be able to vote in their old constituency for 5 years (now 15 years)
  • introduced postal voting
• Representation of the People 2000

  • postal voting restrictions were removed
  • required additional assistance for disabled voters
• Electoral Administration Act 2006

  • parties must declare large loans (following 'cash for peerages' scandal)
  • allowed children to accompany adults into polling stations
  • age of candidacy lowered from 21 to 18
• Welsh Devolution Acts

  • gov't of wales act 1998 established national assembly (legislation)
  • gov't of wales act 2006 established welsh gov't (executive)
  • waled act 2014 devolved further powers to wales including some taxation power
• Scottish Devolution Acts

  • scotland act 1998 established the devolved scottish parliament
  • scotland act 2014 devolved further powers to scotland including the ability to vary income tax and to legislate on alcohol/driving/drugs
  • scotland act 2016 devolved yet more powers in response to the independence referendum result
• Northern Ireland Devolution Acts

  • northern ireland act 1998 established a northern ireland assembly, as part of the peace process leading to the Belfast agreement (aka good friday agreement)
  • northern ireland act 2017 extends the time available to form a government in this power sharing agreement, following numerous suspensions of the assembly
• Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949

  • prevented the lords from vetoing legislation
  • instead, they could delay by 2 years - reduced to 1 year in 1949 to support the nationalisation programme of the post war labour gov't
• Life Peerages Act 1958

  • no longer just hereditary peers
  • also allowed women peers
  • followed in 1963 act which hereditary peers could renounce their titles
• House of Lords Act 1999

  • reduced the number of hereditary peers to 92 (via the wetherill agreement)
  • when a hereditary peers seat becomes available, a replacement hereditary peer is selected in a by-election
• Human Rights Act 1998

  • incorporates the european convention on human rights into uk law
  • unlawful for any public sector body to act in a way that contravenes the convention
  • if judges believe that a UK statute law is incompatible with the HRA then they issue a 'declaration of incompatibility , but cannot directly override it

  eg. bellinger v bellinger case
• Freedom of Information Act 2001

  • grants the public the right to access information held by the public sector
  • ministers may veto requests

  (used 5 times e.g 'spider memos')
• Civil Contingencies Act 2004

  • any legislation (except the HRA 1998 and this act itself) can be amended by a Minister in an emergency for up to 30 days, to grant the gov't whatever powers are needed to manage the emergency
• Constitutional Reform Act 2005

  • established the supreme court, therefore the house of lords no longer the highest appellate court
  • created the judicial appointments commission, to reduce the politicisation of judicial appointments
• Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010

  • required parliament to ratify treaties

  (i.e reformed royal prerogative)

  • required appointments to the civil service to be made fairly and transparently
  • exempted the royal family from FOI requests
• Succession to the Crown Act 2013

  • the eldest child regardless of gender, can be in line to the throne
  • ended the disqualification of members of the royal family who were married to catholics