AC1.1

• Main sources of law (in England and Wales)

  • The government, through parliament
  • The judiciary
• Parliamentary democracy

  Freedom and equality for all
• Law making by parliament

  1. Passing acts of parliament

  2. Laws made by parliament are often referred to as 'statutes or 'legislation'

  3. Parliament is made up of three parts: the monarch (king or queen, the house of lords and the house of commons
• Monarch's role in law making

  Formal role, gives the royal assent – their agreement for the new law
• House of Lords

  • Members are called peers – about 800 peers
  • In the past peers were nobleman e.g. dukes or barons and were hereditary
  • Today there are 92 hereditary peers
  • Rest are life peers who can't pass their position onto their children
  • Main job is to act as a 'double check' on new laws
• House of Commons

  • The most important part of parliament as it's made up of elected representatives of the people: the 650 members of parliament
  • Each MP is elected at a general election to represent a constituency
• Government

  • Formed by the political party that has majority of the MPs
  • Run by the head of the majority party
  • The PM (prime minster) is leader of the majority party
  • Most proposals for new laws come from the government
• Bill

  • A proposal for a law
  • Must be agreed by both houses of parliament and receive the royal assent before they can become acts of parliament (laws)
  • Green paper: an initial report to provoke public discussion
  • White paper: a document setting out their details plans for legislation and often includes a draft version of the bill they intend to put before parliament
• Parliamentary stages of a bill

  1. First reading: formal announcement of the bill followed be a vote to allow it to move onto the next stage

  2. Second reading: its main principles are considered and debated by the whole house of commons and a vote is taken

  3. Committee stage: bill is examined in detail by a small committee made up of MPs from different parties

  4. Report stage: gives MPs an opportunity to consider the committees report and debate and vote on any amendments they may wish to make to the bill

  5. Third reading: final chance for the commons to debate the bills contents – no amendments allowed – house vote to either pass the bill or reject it

  6. House of lords: bill goes through the same stages as in the commons

  7. Royal assent: once the bill has been passed by both houses of parliament it goes to the monarch for signing
• Criminal statutes

  • Criminal justice act 2003
  • Crime sentences act 1997
  • Dangerous dogs act 1991
• Judicial precedent

  • Sources of law making where the past decision of judge create laws for future judges to follow
  • Based on the principle of standing by or following what judges have decided in previous cases
  • Helps to create a single set of laws common to the whole country, known as common law
• Court hierarchy

  • The legal system has a hierarchy of courts with the supreme court at the top of the magistrate's court at the bottom
  • A decided made in a case from a higher court creates an original or binding precent for all lower courts – one that they must follow when dealing with similar cases
• Exceptions to precedent

  • Distinguishing: a judge finds the facts in the present case different enough from the earlier one to allow him or her to reach a difference decision and not follow precedent from the earlier case
  • Overruling: where a court higher up the hierarchy states that a legal decision in an earlier case is wrong and overturns it
• Law on marital rape

  • Case of R V R (1992) – husband convicted of attempting to rape his wife and appealed on the grounds that a husband couldn't be guilty of raping his wife because the marriage extract gives a wife's irrevocable consent to sex
  • Appeal court overruled this on the grounds that the idea of irrevocable consent was unacceptable as today couples are now seen as equal partners in marriage
• Statutory interpretation

  • Judges can make laws by the way they interpret statutes or acts of parliament
  • Literal rule = judges should use every day, ordinary meanings of the words in statute
  • Golden rule = sometimes the literal rule leads to an absurd result, so the golden rules allow the court to modify its literal meaning
  • Mischief rule = allows the court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve rather than what the words actually say
• R V Maginnis (1987)

  • Defendant charge with possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply it another under the misuse of drugs act 1971
  • A package containing £500 worth of cannabis was found in his car
  • Defendant stated the cannabis belonged to a friend and that the friend would be picking it up later
  • Judge ruled that his action is handling the drugs back to the friend was an action of supply – defendant pleaded guilty and appealed
  • Court of appeal quashed his conviction
  • Court of parliament reversed the order of her majesty's court and appeal and restored the conviction
  • Reasoning = court of parliament held that the word 'supply' in section 5 of the act of 1971 covers a wide range of transactions