W100_Etma2

An Act of Parliament is a new law created by the houses of Parliament. An act can come from Party Manifestos, The Law commission, The Royal commission, or from a Nation emergency, crisis or new development. In order for an Act to become a law it must be considered by and agreed upon by a majority in the House of commons and the House of Lords, this is called a bill and is how new laws begin. Delegated Legislation is Law made by someone who is not in the Westminster Parliament but has been given the power to make law by Parliament in an enabling act. For example, Bylaws can be created by local authorities to deal with issues in local areas, such as the “TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT SQUARE GARDENS (AMENDMENT No 1) BYELAWS 2002” Which was enabled by the “GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY ACT 1999, SECTION 385(1). The devolved legislatures are the Scottish Parliament, The Welsh assembly and the Northern Ireland assembly. In the 1990’s the Westminster Parliament passed a number of laws giving power to each of the above to make laws in their own areas. The Scottish Parliament can pass primary and delegated legislation on matters that have been agreed upon by the Westminster Parliament. Whereas The Welsh assembly do not have full law making powers and can only pass secondary or delegated legislation under the power given to them by the Westminster Parliament. The Northern Ireland assembly can pass legislation on devolved matters such as education, but excepted matters such as taxation must be transferred by the Westminster Parliament and on reserved matters such as criminal law it the power to passed laws could be transferred to them as a later date. When a Precedent has been set it means that a similar case has previously been heard before a court, usually of a higher standing and that the current ruling judge should follow the same legal rule, although if the previous case was heard in a court lower down in the hierarchy the judge should take the ruling into consideration but does not have to follow it fully. Common law is law that has been made by judges in court and the legal precedents that have previously been set as opposed to laws that have been set by Acts of Parliament. European union law is law which applies to all European union states and creates legal consistency between them. Each state has agreed that European Union Law can overpower their National laws and that they must give up some of their law making powers to the European Union in order to create consistency. ETMA2 Question 2 In England and Wales many legal principles have been made by a system of precedent where judges have made rulings that have then become a marker or precedent for later cases. Usually the precedent setting case will have been heard in a higher standing court although if it was set in a lower court the current judge does not have to follow it but will usually take the decision into consideration. The supreme court of the UK is the highest appeal court in the UK and concentrates mostly on cases that have the most public and constitutional importance. This means that the Supreme Courts decisions have a great bearing on how society is formed and operates. When making their decisions, judges in the Supreme Court must consider European Union Law and the European convention on human rights as well as previous outcomes in the UK. All lower courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Until October 2010 The House of Lords was the highest court in England and Wales but after this date it relinquished it’s powers to The Supreme Court of the UK. The court of appeal is lower down in the hierarchy and is bound by its own historical decisions as well as those of the House of Lords and the Supreme Court. The court of appeal does not usually set a precedent although there are some exceptions. If there has been a conflict between previous decisions in similar cases then the court of appeal must decide between them. Similarly, if there was an error on a previous case, of some information missed out which would have changed the outcome of the case then the Court of appeal may ignore the decision. They may also reconsider any decision that was made that conflicts with decisions made by the European Union and European court of human rights. High court judges are also bound by previous decisions made by higher courts in the hierarchy and their decisions are also binding in lower courts. Crown courts and magistrate courts are at the bottom of the hierarchy and cannot set precedents. Accurate law reporting is very important for judges to be able to follow previous decisions, the information must be concisely recorded and easy to locate. Judges have an important role in society and carry a great responsibility in ensuring that the law is upheld and obeyed and they have the power to punish those found guilt of breaking the law. ETMA Q3 The Law making process at the Westminster Parliament begins when a proposal for a new law is put to Parliament for consideration. This is known as a Bill. A Bill can come from a Party manifesto, The Law Commission, The Royal Commission, Private members bills and National emergency, crisis or new development and can come in several forms depending on who has introduced them and who they will affect. A public Bill is usually submitted by a government minister and will deal with issues that directly affect the general public. The Government usually supports public Bills. A Private Members Bill also usually deals with issues that affect the public but are submitted by an MP who is not a government minister. A Private Bill (not to be confused with a Private Members Bill) will deal with maters affecting a small minority of people for example a corporate company who need the Governments approval to carry out a certain action. When preparing a bill the appropriate Government department must first draft what is called a Green paper, this will outline the details of the Bill and feedback will be taken from organisations and experts in the subject of the proposal. This feedback is collected by Civil servants who can neutrally appraise the Bill and make alternative suggestions if needs be. The Ministers then publish what is called a White paper which is usually the finalised version of the Bill. Changes can still be made at this point although this is not common. Before the Bill is introduced to Parliament it must go through a process called drafting which ensures that the wording is precise and exact and could not be misinterpreted after it has been passed. The wording also has to be unambiguous so that it can easily understood by everyone including the general public. Once this process is complete the bill will go back to the proposing department where it will again be checked to make sure it still says what they intended it to and when the department is satisfied copies of the Bill are distributed to MP’s to inform them that it will be coming up for discussion and to be voted on. This is called The First Reading. Next is The Second reading stage, this is where a minister will explains the Bill to MP’s and they will debate its contents. At this stage the Bill usually becomes known by the public due to the media coverage of support or opposition to it. MP’s must then vote and a majority vote must be cast in order for this Bill to proceed to the next stage. At this point a committee of between 16 and 50 MP’s look at the Bill in great detail and make any necessary amendments. MP’s from all political parties partake in this stage in ratio to their numbers in the House of Commons and they will usually have an interest in the subject included in the Bill. The Bill will now go back to the proposing department again for review and any amendments made in the committee stage will be debated and any further amendments made this is called The Report stage. The Bill is then subject to a final vote which is called the Third reading but this is more or less a formality in the House of Commons although in the House of Lords they may still sometimes make changes at this stage. If the Bill originated in the House of Commons it will be passed to The House of Lords and repeat the same process and vice versa if it originated in the House of Lords. Both houses must agree on the text of the Bill. If the House of Lords vote against a Bill it can still become Law because it will be passed back to the House of Commons where the whole process will be repeated and if they vote in favour for a second time the Law will then be passed. This is because the House of Lords have not been elected democratically so they should not oppose the Law proposed by the House of Commons who have been elected, The final stage is Royal assent. This is where the current Monarch agrees to make the Bill an Act of Parliament, although in present day the Monarch does not sign the actual Bill but rather a letter of patent or a Commission which will announce that that assent has been given. The Law will now usually come into force at midnight of the day the assent was given but in some cases a commencement date may be given for a future date in order to give authorities time to prepare to implement the Law. For example, The Children Act 1989 was given a commencement date to give the Social Workers and councils time to take extra training to be able to provide the high standards of service that was expected of them.