1.1 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Parliament
The highest legislation, made up of 3 parts: the monarch, The House of Lords and The House of Commons
Monarch
Head of state, usually King or Queen.
Just has to sign the Royal Assent
House of Lords
Upper house of parliament.
Acts as a double check on new laws.
House of Commons
Lower House of Parliament
Made up of 650 elected representatives of the people.
Each represent a constituency (part of the country)
Constituency
An area whose voters elect a representative to a legislative body.
They choose someone to represent them in Parliament for that area basically.
Royal Assent
The passing of a bill by Parliament, Making the bill a new law/act of Parliament.
Statutes
A written law passed by a legislative body.
Legislation
Laws considered collectively.
Acts of Parliament
Texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction.
Bill
Proposed law introduced into parliament.
White paper
A report that informs readers about an issue or authoritative report that talks about a specific proposal
Green Paper
A government document that anyone who is interested can study and make suggestions about especially before law is changed or a new law is made
Common Law
A body of law based on court decisions rather than codes or statutes
Distinguishing
Where the court declares the the material of the case is different to the previous case and such the precedent is not relevant
Overruling
Where a court higher in the hierarchy departs from a decision in a lower court.
Judicial Precedent
The idea that once a court makes a decision, both they and other courts beneath them are bound by that decision, except for certain circumstances.
Statutory interpretation
The process by which a judge decides what the words in a statutory mean, in order to use them in the case and reach a decision
The literal rule
Gives all the words in the law their ordinary and natural meaning at the time the law was written.
Example:
Cheeseman V DPP
The golden rule
If the literal rule gives an absurd result which Parliament could not have intended, then AND ONLY THEN the judge can substitute reasonable meaning to avoid it using the golden rule.
Example:
Alder V George
The mischief rule
The judge ignores the literal wording of the law and instead makes the ruling on what they think the law is trying to say, rather than what it actually says.
Example:
Corkery V Carpenter
