Law-making

The legislative process:

Key terms:

• Bills - proposed laws
• Statute - a bill that has passed through
• Public bill - laws affecting the general public
• Private members bill - laws proposed by someone outside the government
• Private bill - laws affecting a small, specific group
• Hybrid bill - laws which affect the geneal public and a small specific group
• Government bill - laws proposed by the government

Stages of legislation:

1) Idea stage: The source of ideas, such as the law commission.

2) Consultation stage: The idea is discussed with experts and interested parties and a green paper is formulated. This idea is the finalised and turned into a white paper.

3) Drafting stage: The idea is written into legal terminology by the Parliamentary Counsel. It is now a bill.

4) Parliamentary stage: The bill now has to go through many stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It then requires royal assent.

Parliamentary stages of legislatoin:

1) First reading: The name and main aims of the bill are read out.

2) Second reading: The main debate on the whole bill takes place and a vote is held.

3) Committee stage: Each clause of the bill is examined by the General Committee. The MP's in the General Committee are usually specialists and are proportionally representative.

4) Report stage: The committee reports back to the House and amendments are made. These amendments are then debated.

5) Third stage: The final vote on the bill.

6) House of Lords: The bill goes through the five stages again, however, this time they take place in the HoL.

7) Royal assent: The monarch gives approval to the bill.

AO3:

Advantages:

• Democratic.
  • Agreement must be unanimous.
  • Parliament has many different views, so bill is more likely to be representative.
  • Low chance of corruption.
• Representative of the public
  • The General Committee has members of the government and the opposition, resulting in a wide range of views which are more representative of the public.
• Well-scrutinised legislation
  • Many different stages means the bill has been scrutinised by a lot of people, a lot of times.
  • The General Committee is made up of specialists and experts.
• Brings about positive reforms and change
  • Due to the intense scrutiny, laws should bring about positive change.
  • Private Member's Bills allow for positive reforms that the government may not have considered.

Disadvantages:

• Undemocratic:
  • The public have no say in law-making.
  • General Committee only needs a majority agreement, yet the government party has the majority.
• Unrepresentative:
  • Only represents the views of the majority party.
  • Government are rarely representative of the public.
• Not well scrutinised:
  • The monarch isn't allowed to read the bill, just the title. 
• Does not bring about positive reforms:
  • Private Member's Bills are rarely passed.

Law reform:

EU law key terms:

• Directly applicable = EU law that automatically becomes part of UK law.
• Direct effect = An EU law which creates individual rights enforceable in national courts.
• Vertical direct effect = Where the EU law creates individual rights…