Parliamentary Law Making

    Cards (11)

    • 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
      Private Members Bill: type of public bill
      • Introduced by individual MP's or Lords
      • By Ballot: present their bill in parliament
      • The Ten-Minute Rule: MP can make a speech up to 10 minutes supporting the introduction of new legislation
      • Example: The Abortion Act 1967
    • Introducing an act of parliament:
      Public Bill:
      • Effects the whole country or a large proportion
      • Example: The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
      Private Bill:
      • Affect individual people or corporations
      • Example: The Faversham Oyster Fishery Company Act 2017
    • The Law-Making Process: The Pre-Legislative Procedure:
      1. 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:
      1. Draft Bill:
      • Formal legislative process will begin
      2. First Reading:
      • 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. Second Reading:
      • MPs will debate the main principle and a vote is taken to decide if the bill should progress
      4. Committee stage:
      • 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. Report Stage:
      • 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
    See similar decks