Unit 4 1.1

• Governmental process to law making


  1. Green paper proposed and set out

  2. Public debate and consultation

  3. White paper formally set out

  4. Bill presented to parliament

  5. First reading - aims announced, vote taken

  6. Second reading - aims debated, voted on

  7. Committee stage - select group studies, suggests amendments

  8. Report stage - committee findings read, amendments voted on

  9. Third reading - final vote on bill

  10. Repeat stages in next house of MPs

  11. Royal assent - formal approval by monarch
• The new law first starts off as a green paper in which the new law is proposed and set out
• This is opened for public debate and consultation. From there if there is public support it becomes a white paper and is set out more formally
• The next step is the white paper becoming a bill and this is presented to parliament
• The first stage of the process is the first reading. This is when the aims are announced, and a vote is taken
• Once the vote is taken it moves onto the second stage which is the second reading. In this stage the aims of the law are debated and voted on again
• It then moves to the committee stage. In this stage a select group is asked to study the new law in more detail and investigate any issues and suggest amendments
• Once this stage is completed efficiently the process then moves onto the report stage. In this stage the committees finding are read out and votes are taken again on the amendments which have been proposed
• This then leads to the third reading in which a final vote is taken on the bill
• Next all the stages are repeated in the next house of MPs. E.g., house of commons and they can also suggest amendments
• The last stage is the royal assent stage. This is a formal process which cannot be refused by the monarch. It is a signature of an approval and date of release
• State three things the parliament consists of - House of Commons, House of Lords and the monarch
• A law which went through the governmental law making process was fox hunting - this was when it was a legal act and parliament wanted to make it illegal
• The hunting act 2004 banned fox hunting - legal to illegal
• Judiciary


  All the judges in the land
• How judges play a role in formulating the law

  1. Through judicial precedents

  2. Through the judicial process
• Judicial precedents


  • Judges in the lower court must apply the law accordingly based on precedents set by higher courts
  • Judges in the past create laws for the future
• Judicial process


  Laws are made by judges in courts when they make judgments on cases
• Common law


  Law made by a judge, must be followed in similar cases in the future and passed down to lower courts
• What happens when there are no precedents


  Judges must judge and decide what to do next, creating a new precedent
• Overruling


  When a higher court decides a lower court's decision was made wrong
• Example of overruling


  • The R v R case, where the judgment of martial rape was overruled by Lord Lane
• Distinguishing rule


  When a judge thinks there are significant differences in the facts of a case compared to precedents
• Example of distinguishing


  • The Read v Lyons case, where the court of appeal said there was no hazardous material left the premises so Read could not claim negligence
• Statutory interpretation


  Judges use the three rules - golden, mischief and literal - to interpret legislation
• Example of statutory interpretation

  • Literal rule is a plain simple meaning of interpretation, golden rule is interpreting to seek and avoid an absurd outcome