ACTS OF PARLIAMENT

·    Judicial law-making through precedents is not suitable for major changes

·    Not sufficiently quick/law-making method

·    Judges not democratically elected

·    Laws should only be made by elected representatives of Plm

·    Main legislative body in UK is Plm.

·    Laws passed by Plm is known as Acts of Parliament or statutes

·    60 – 70 Acts passed each year

Parliament

1.  House of Commons

a. Member of HoC referred as Members of Parliament.

b.  MP are elected by the public through  general election every five years

2.  House of Lords

a.  Begining 2010;

              i.      92 hereditary peers

             ii.      The most senior bishops in the Church of England

b. People who had served their country

c.  Most life peerages were given to the former politician

               i.     E.g Margaret Thatcher

Pre-Legislative Process

·    Green Paper:              Consultation document on possible new law

·    White Paper: Government’s firm proposals for new law

Bills

·    When the proposed Act has been drafted it is published, and at this stage it is called a Bill.

1. Public Bill
2. Private Bill
3. Hybrid Bill
4. Private Member Bill

Public Bill

·   Bill is given 3 reading in HoC and HoL before it can be presented for Royal Assent.

1ST Reading(table the bill and set the date)

2ND Reading (general principles of bill extensively debated)

Committee Stage (Bill is passed to a Standing Committee who considers the Bill in detail. Committee has the power to amend.)

Report Stage (The above committee reports the Bill back to the house for consideration for any amendments)

3RD Reading (Further debate but restricted to matters relating to the content of the Bill only)

Same procedure in HoL (Bill is passed back to HoC to consider the amendments suggested)

3RD Reading (Further debate but restricted to matters relating to the content of the Bill only)

Royal Assent (The Bill is sent to the Queen to receive the approval. Once, this is done the Bill is known as an Act of Parliament)

 

















 

Private Bill

·   Any person whose interests are specifically affected by a bill, normally in relation to property or business interest, my lodge a petition against the Bill in accordance with the procedure set out in Standing Orders.

·   Process is similar after this process of consultation.

Hybrid Bill

·   Bills which are public but affect private interests.

·   These Bills are sent to the Public Bills office. If the office considers the Bill should be examined by the office of private bill, it will be sent there, where 2 examiners of private Bills will examine it and subject to the remaining parliamentary procedure.

Private Member Bill

3 ways in which a private member can introduce a Bill during Parliamentary sessions:

    i.       Ballot procedure where 20 back-bench members get the right to propose legislation on Fridays;

   ii.       Standing Order 39 permits any member to present a Bill after 20 balloted bills have been presented;

 iii.       Standing Rule 13; 10-minute rule procedure, which allows a member to make a speech up to 10-minutes introducing the Bill.

Disadvantages/Criticisms of Legislative Process

The Renton Committee said there were four main categories of complaint:

1)      The language used in many Acts was obscure and complex

2)      Acts were ‘over-elaborate’ because draftsmen tried to provide for every contingency.

3)      The internal structure of many Acts was illogical with sections appearing to be out of sequence, making it difficult for people to find relevant sections.

4)      There was a lack of clear connection between Acts, so that it was not easy to trace all the Acts on a given topic. In addition, the frequent practice of amending small parts of one Act by passing another increased the difficulty of finding out what the law was.

Parliament Sovereignty

·    Parliamentary law is sovereign over other forms of law in England and Wales.

·    An Act of Plm can completely overrule any custom, judicial precedent, delegated legislation or previous Act of Plm

·    This is also referred to as Plm Supremacy

Definition of Parliamentary Sovereignty

1. Plm can legislate on any subject matter
2. No Plm can be bound by any previous Plm, nor can a Plm pass any act that will bind a later Plm
3. No other body has the right to override a or set aside an Act of Plm

Legislating on any subject matter

®     No limit on what Plm can make laws about..

®      Plm can also change its own powers.

  

Cannot bind successor

®     Each new Plm should be free to make or change what laws it wishes.

®     Plm not bound by a law made by a previous Plm.

Cannot be overruled by others

®     This rule is kept to even if the Act of Plm may have been assed because of incorrect information.

®     A challenge cannot be made to an Act of Parliament if there was fraud.

Limitations on Parliamentary Sovereignty

·         Memberships of the European Union

o Membership of the EU means that EU laws take priority over English law where the English law was passed after the relevant EU law.

o E.g Merchant Shipping Act 1988

·         Human Rights Act 1998

o   This states that all Act of Plm have to be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

o   It is possible to challenge an Act on the ground that it does not comply with the convention.

o   S 4 Human Rights Act 1998; court has the power to declare an Act to be incompatible with the Convention.

o   However, a declaration of incompatibility does not mean that the Gov has to change the law.

o   If Plm wishes it can pass a new Act which contravenes the ECHR.