PARLIAMENTARY LAW MAKING Flashcards
(14 cards)
STAGE ONE
Green Paper
- Consultation document putting forward the government’s ideas
STAGE TWO
White Paper
- The government sets out its firm proposal for the new law
STAGE THREE
Draft Bill
- A draft bill puts the proposals into formal legal language
STAGE FOUR
First Reading
- A formal procedure where the name and main aims of the Bill are read out
STAGE FIVE
Second Reading
- The main debate on the Bill and MPs vote on it
- Majority needed for the bill to pass onto Third Reading
STAGE SIX
Committee Stage
- Detailed examination of each clause
- Undertaken by a committee of 16-50 MPs
STAGE SEVEN
Report Stage
- The Committee reports back to the House if there has been amendments at the Committee stage
- The amendments are debated on and accepted or rejected
STAGE EIGHT
Third Reading
- The final vote on the bill
STAGE NINE
Other House
- Process repeated in the other House
STAGE TEN
Ping Pong Stage
- If the HOL make amendments the bill must go back the the Commons for approval and if they don’t approve it returns to the Lords
- This continues until both Houses can approve
STAGE ELEVEN
Royal Assent
- Monarch gives approval for the bill to become an Act of Parliament
STAGE TWELVE
Commencement
- An Act of Parliament comes into force on midnight of the day it is given Royal Assent unless another date has been set
ADVANTAGES
- Law is made by elected representatives = democratic
- Parliament can act on reports and draft bills made by Law Commission
- In emergencies, laws can be passed quickly
- HOL acts as a checking mechanism
DISADVANTAGES
- Undemocratic as HOL is unelected and approval of the Crown
- Process is long
- Parliamentary Supremacy makes laws difficult to amend
- Government is in charge of Parliamentary timetable
