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Unit 4 A.C. 1.1- Describe processes used for law making - Coggle Diagram
Unit 4 A.C. 1.1- Describe processes used for law making
Parliament
most of laws made by passing Acts of Parliament, often referred to as statues/ legislation
has 3 parts- Monarch, House of Lords, House of Commons
represents the people + serve the best interest of the people
Government
mechanisms by which the country is run to male sure that important systems work effectively
House of Lords
has members known as peers, can be hereditary with the responsibility passed down from father-son, currently 91
rest are life peers who don't pass on their position, currently 664, 26 members of church of England and archbishops
act as a double check on work of the house of commons, 605 of work involves law creation + involved in the early stages of creating/ checking bills that become laws
can scrutinize work of gov + provide particular independent expertise due to make up of its members
House of Commons
made up of 650 elected members (MPs) representing the people + look after their interests/ concerns in the House of Commons
each represent a constituency, a diff geographical are of the country
consider/ propose new laws+ provide scrutiny of gov by asking question about current issues/ policies
Order of law making process
green paper
white paper
first reading
second reading
the committee stage
the report stage
third reading
house of lords
2 more items...
there is a smaller debate taking place and there is a vote to whether it should continue or not
House of Commons suggests possible amendments
takes a closer look at the bill and suggests possible amendments and vote after
first debate, vote if it should be continued
no debates, bill is read to House of Commons
informed by public consultation+ contains more concrete policy proposals- includes the draft bill
vague, containing multiple policy options- discussions
criminal statutes introduced by gov and passed by parliament
The Criminal Justice Act 2003: change in double jeopardy rule following Ann Ming's successful campaign leading to the conviction of Billy Dunlop + also a suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence
The Crime Sentences Act 1997: mandatory minimum sentences for a range of repeated offences
Judicial processes of law making
majority made trough parliament, but senior judges play a role in law making
Judicial precedent
past decisions of judges create laws for future judges; principle of standing by means judges follow what has been decided in previous cases where the point of las is the same, creating certainty, consistency + fairness in legal system
law developed from following decisions previously made- helped to create set of laws that are common to whole country, hence it being known as common law
when there is no precedent, judge must make decision+ give original precedent
Donoghue v Stevenson 1932: 2 friends visited cafe, drank a bottle of ginger beer that had remains of a decomposing snail in it; woman fell ill+ sued manufacturer, winning her case; court decided that a duty of care owed to manufacturer to woman-> neighbour principle- case founded the modern day law of negligence
Daniels v White 1938: claimant bought bottle of lemonade, and when drank felt burning reaction to his throat; lemonade found to have corrosive metal in it- sued for compensation even though facts were slightly diff- sufficiently similar for the purpose of precedent
Exceptions to precedent- only permitted by very senior courts, Supreme Court
Distinguishing- can only be binding if principle/ facts of case is the same; judges find fact that present case diff form earlier enough to reach diff decision and not follow precedent
Overruling- higher courts can over-turn legal decisions made by lower court, e.g. the Supreme court may overrule an appeal decision by a lower court and set a new precedent-> RvR 1991 Marital Rape- age old precedent of irrevocable consent overruled by Court of Appeal
Reversing- Higher court changes decision made in lower court of appeal- only in particular cases, doesn't meant the precedent is removed
Statutory interpretation
Literal rule- courts look at the words of statue and apply them as they are written giving them their ordinary/ natural meaning
Golden rule- allows courts to assume that Parliament intended that its legislative provisions have a wider definition than its literal meaning-> grammatical/ ordinary sense of word can be modified avoiding inconsistency/ absurdity
Mischief rule- court looks to what law was before legislation passed in order to discover what gap/ mischief legislation intended to cover-> court then required to interpret legislation to ensure that gap is covered
judges in superior courts are sometimes called upon to interpret words/ phrases within a statue- make law by the way they interpret statues/ Acts of Parliament and apply to cases being judged
Whiteley v Chappell 1868- defendant charged with offence of impersonating person entitled to vote; pretended to be person on list but they died-> court held defendant not guilty as a dead person in to entitled to vote