Year 12 Law - Term 1 - Wk 2 - Law making

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• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Year 12 Law - Term 1 - Wk 2 -

Law making

Learning objective

To understand how laws are made in Parliament

Starter

In groups think of a new law or change in the law that you would like to be introduced.

What do the following words mean?

House of Commons

House of Lords

general election

life peers

hereditary peers

legislature

executive

judiciary

delegated legislation

Parliamentary sovereignty

The law-making procedure in Parliament

Parliament consists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the monarchy all acting together to make laws. The House of Commons is elected every five years by a general election. The members of the House of Lords of life peers, but there are 92 members who are hereditary peers. There are also 26 bishops of the church of England, known as the Lords Spiritual.

Separation of powers

According to the French philosopher, Montesquieu, an ideal state should be divided into three separate areas: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Each of these areas should have its own separate function.

In theory, each of these three areas should remain separate from each other. They should be balanced against each other and be able to check and limit the power of the others. The UK does not strictly follow the theory of the separation of powers, as much of the law is made by the executive through delegated legislation and by judges through judicial precedent.

Parliamentary sovereignty

Parliamentary sovereignty is a theory and an important principle of the UK constitution. it makes parliament the highest legal authority in the UK so that it can make any law or end any law it chooses. Generally, the courts cannot overrule any law passed by Parliament, and future parliament can change laws passed by previous parliaments.

Over the years, the UK Parliament has passed laws but limit the theory and application of Parliamentary sovereignty. They include:

The devolution or transferring of law making power to bodies such as the Scottish Parliament and Welsh assembly.

The Human Rights Act 1998, which says that any law passed by parliament must be interpreted and given effect, so far as possible, in accordance with the European convention on human rights open (ECHR). This means that the ECHR is superior to the UK Parliament. If parliament wishes to pass a law against the ECHR, the government minister proposing the law must give a certificate of incompatibility and reasons for the need for the law.

The U.K.’s entry to the European union in 1973, which made EU laws superior to national laws. This means that any law passed by the EU has to be brought into force in the UK. However, in view of the referendum vote in June 2016 to leave the EU, this might not be the case in future. NB. Now that the UK has left the European Union, European law doesn’t automatically become part of UK law. UK Parliament will decide whether new EU directives should be incorporated into UK law and act accordingly.

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One view is that these laws do not completely affect the principal of Parliamentary sovereignty, because, in theory at least, parliament could appeal any of the laws implementing these changes. it remains to be seen how the UK parliament will deal with the decision to exit the EU, although it can be said that by leaving the EU, the UK Parliament will be fully regaining its sovereignty.

Pre-legislative stages

Often, the government will have specific ideas for new laws, which may have included within their election manifesto. They will introduce these ideas directly into parliament without any previous consultation. Sometimes they will wish to consult different groups before introducing a proposal into parliament by publishing a green paper. The government will ask for feedback to their ideas in this paper, which they may include in their bill. After receiving these responses, they may then publish a white paper, which sets out their firm plans for a new law. The draft bill will usually be based on these plans.Once a bill has completed all the stages, it becomes an act and then is part of the law. A bill may be a public bill, a private members bill or a private bill, as detailed in the table information below.

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The legislative stages.

A bill will often be introduced into the House of Commons where the following procedure will take place see the figure below.

First reading – the bill is announced by the government minister responsible or the promoter of the bill. A date will be set for the next reading. There is no debate or vote.

Second reading – there will be a debate on the general idea behind the bill. A vote will be taken on whether the bill should go ahead. If a bill passes this stage, it will generally become a law.

Committee stage – a committee of 16 to 50 MPs will consider the bill clause by clause and line by line. Amendments can be made at this stage. Line report stage – the committee report back to the house on their discussions and suggested amendments.

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Third reading – there may be another general debate on the proposals in the bill and another vote may be taken on the bill as a whole or the amendments.

if the bill and amendments are accepted, it will be passed to the House of Lords for a similar process to take place. At the end of their discussions, it will be returned to the Commons.

Ping-pong stage - if amendments are made by the Lords, they will be considered by the Commons. The amendments may be accepted in which case the bill passes for Royal ascent or they may lead to further discussion or debate. This stage is formally known as Lords Amendment Considered.

Royal Assent – the bill is signed by the monarch and then becomes an act. It comes into force on midnight of the day the act is signed, unless otherwise stated.

An act can be brought into force immediately or at some later date. It can be brought into force as a whole or in parts.

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The table below shows the advantages and disadvantages of making laws in parliament.

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The table to the right shows the process through which a bill becomes an act.

Pause Point

Pause point.

What are some of the reasons for introducing a new act of parliament?

Choose an act of Parliament made in the last three years and read its introductory notes.

What were the reasons for introducing the act?

Identify the different groups and influences who may have been involved in introducing the legislation.

Last task

Describe the 8 stages of law-making in Parliament: