Legislation and Acts of Parliament Flashcards
(10 cards)
What is the cyclical process to interpretation of Acts of Parliament?
- A law is required
- Parliament will draft a law with a particular intent to the wording and they create an Act
- Ordinary person interprets the Act
- Another person interprets it differently
- Lawyers get involved
- Courts get involve and give a ruling on interpretation
- Legislators step in to change the law, either by passing a simplifying law, correcting it or addressing the situation
- Process repeats
What are the key principles behind Parliamentary sovereignty?
Only Parliament can make or unmake a law – doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty
- Statute can amend case law, but case law cannot amend statute
Parliament can make laws of any kind
Statute prevails in conflicts with other kinds of law
Statute cannot be overridden by any body outside of Parliament
UK courts have no power to declare legislation invalid, but they can make declarations of incompatibility under the HRA 1998
Parliament cannot bind its successors, and a later Parliament can change the Acts of a predecessor
- This means a statute cannot be protected from repeal
What is secondary legislation?
1) Statutory instruments
- They are creations of ministers and civil servants which require no discussion before becoming law
- They have a reference to a ‘parent Act’ and can only stem from an earlier Act
2) Council byelaws are another form of secondary legislation
- Local laws made by local councils under an enabling provision by an Act of Parliament
- Usually accompanied by a sanction for non-observance – could be a measure to do with open spaces or a marketplace
- They can’t take effect until confirmed by an appropriate government minister
What is the typical format of an Act of Parliament?
- Name of the Act – known as short title
- Year of the Act and chapter – chapter means the number of acts within that year
- Long title – explains the subject matter of the legislation in more detail
- Enacting formula – indicates that the Act has passed through necessary constitutional process
- Contents of the Act are organised by sections and perhaps Parts for longer Acts
- At the end of the Act, there will be interpretation sections, matters relating to commencement, application and extent (geographical reach)
* Presumed to apply to whole of UK, unless otherwise stated
Additional documents and extra material, relevant to a particular Act, often appear in Schedules to the Act
How are Bills created?
Green paper – contains outline proposals for laws that are still in a formative stage
White paper – more developed document, setting out proposals for legislative change; may be accompanied by debates within Parliament
- These two invite comments from the public
A Bill is then drafted and introduced to Parliament
The Bill is the law, drafted, discussed, amended and progressed through Parliament
Acts are the final version as given the Royal Assent
What are public bills?
They affect the public as a whole; fall into two broad categories:
1) Government bills introduced by a minister as part of the government’s legislative programme
2) Private member’s Bills
- They begin with a ballot for the entitlement to present a bill; only very few MPs are able to present their titles and nominate a second reading
- They can also present the Bill via ordinary presentation, but the ballot Bills takes precedence, so they have limited significance
- Very little Parliamentary time made for these (13 Fridays in each session)
What are private bills and what are hybrid bills?
They affect a particular group of people, organisations or localities
- Can start in either HC or HL
- Must be publicised in a suitable way and any group/individual directly affected by the proposals can object through petitions
Hybrid bills combine elements of public and private bills
What are the 4 different triggers for the creation of legislation?
1) Party political manifesto pledges – promises a successful party believes it should keep
2) Administrative, technical and managerial matters necessary to the functioning of Government
- Finance Acts that accompany every Parliament
3) Changes in society and demands of electorate
4) Unexpected events and crises
What is ‘consolidation?’
Where one statute re-enacts law that was previously contained in several different statutes
- Rebuttable presumption that consolidation does not materially change earlier legislation
- Does not include case law
What is ‘codification?’
Where all the law on some topic from common law, custom and statute is brought together in one new statute
- May change the pre-existing law
- May include case law
