UK Parliament: Law-making process made up of three main bodies the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch
HOC:
Elected every 5 years and represent a constituency
HOL:
Hereditary peers - inherited their place
Life peers - nominated by the Prime Minister
The Monarch:
Royal Assent needed for Bill
Introducing an act of parliament: Bill is a draft for a proposal of law
PrivateMembers Bill: type of public bill
Introduced by individual MP's or Lords
ByBallot: present their bill in parliament
The Ten-MinuteRule: MP can make a speech up to 10 minutes supporting the introduction of new legislation
Example: The AbortionAct1967
Introducing an act of parliament:
Public Bill:
Effects the whole country or a large proportion
Example: The Police and CriminalEvidenceAct1984
Private Bill:
Affect individual people or corporations
Example: The Faversham Oyster FisheryCompanyAct2017
The Law-Making Process: The Pre-Legislative Procedure:
The Green Paper
consultative document to put forward a new law
first step to making or changing the law
interested parties are invited to comment
2. The White Paper
firm and formal proposal for the new law - set out in draft form
allows further feedback before writing the draft bill
The Formal Legislative Procedure:
DraftBill:
Formal legislative process will begin
2. FirstReading:
name of bill + its main aim and purpose is read out and a vote will take place to decide if the bill should progress further
3. SecondReading:
MPs will debate the main principle and a vote is taken to decide if the bill should progress
4. Committeestage:
Standing Committee is made up of nominated MPs who have a special interest, knowledge or qualifications in the subject of the Bill + review each clause and make amendments where necessary
5. ReportStage:
Standing Committee will report back to the House of Commons on the amendments that have been made + can either be accepted or rejected
Third Reading:
final vote - formally a bill if it passed all previous stages
7. Other House:
if Bill started in HOC it will then progress to HOL vice versa.
The bill will then go through the same five stages + if choose to make any amendments it will go back to the other house - called 'ping ponging'
8. Royal Assent:
Monarch formally gives approval of the bill
9. (Commencement of the Act)
Parliament Acts:
The Parliament Act 1911:
Lords could only delay a bill by up to 2 years
The Parliament Act 1949:
Further reduced the Lords delaying power to 1 year
HOC can now by-pass the HOL when they wont support a bill
Advantages of the Legislative Process:
upholds the rule of law
represents society, lots of scrutiny, represents societies' views
public can follow all stages - fair + upholds Rule of Law
intensely scrutinised
time for amendments and corrections + ping pong feature - do not exceed their powers and hold them to account
debates are televised - public can also scrutinise the work
Advantages of the Legislative Process:
democratically elected
HOC are elected by the public, represent the views of society
HOL have lot of say in law - undemocratic appointed by the Prime Minister
Allows for consultation
consultation stages allow the public to give their views and point out flaws - improves the law
members of public can also meet with their MP if they have an issue
Disadvantages of the Legislative Process:
Complex and lacks clarity
use obscure and complex language which is difficult for public to understand so doesn't uphold the rule of law
requires judges to interpret the complex language which undermines Parliamentary sovereignty
Time consuming
takes several months and years to create Acts so some could be outdated by the time they come into force
HOL can delay the process for up to a year as well as ping ponging
Disadvantages of the Legislative Process:
Confusing for the public
some Acts have amendments which make it more confusing and hard for member of public to know the exact legislation in place
Structures of an act are confusing and hard to find relevant section + hard for public to understand as doesn't uphold rule of law
Undemocratic
HOL are unelected and are upper class + privately educated so do not represent society
Elected HOC hold the most power and use Parliament Acts 1911 + 1949 to by-pass the HOL