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British Parliament - Everything You Need To Know
The great majority of Acts of Parliament are introduced by the Government – these are initially drafted by lawyers in the civil service who are known as parliamentary counsel to the treasury. Instructions as to what are to be included and the effect the proposed law is intended to have, are given by the government department responsible for it. Bills When the proposed Act has been drafted it is published, and at this sage is called a Bill. It will only become an Act Of Parliament if it successfully completes all the necessary stages in Parliament. Even at this early stage there are difficulties, as the draftsmen face problems in trying to frame the bill. It has to be drawn up so that it represents the Governments wishes, while at the same time using correct legal working so that there will not be any difficulties in the courts applying it. It must be unambiguous, precise and comprehensive. Achieving all of these is not east, and there may be unforeseen problems with the language used, as discussed in the chapter on statutory interpretation. On top of this there is usually pressure on time, as the Government will have a timetable of when they wish to introduce the draft bill into parliament. Private members bills Ballot Bills can also be sponsored by individual MP’s. The parliamentary process allows for a ballot each parliamentary session in which 20 private members are selected who can then take their turn in presenting a bill to parliament. The time for debate of private members’ bills is limited, usually only being debated on Fridays, so that only the first six or sever members in the ballot have a realistic chance of introducing a bull on their chosen topic. Relatively few private members bills become law, but there have been some important laws passed as the result of such bills. Another example was the abortion act 1967 which legalised abortion in this country. More recent examples are the Marriage Act 1994, which was introduced by Giles Brandeth, the MP for Chester. This allowed people to marry in any registered place, not only in register offices or religious buildings and the household waste recycling act which places local authorities under a duty to recycle waste. 10-minute rules Backbenchers can also try to introduce a bull through the ’10 minute’ rules, under which any MP can make a speech of up to10 minutes supporting the introduction of new legislation. This method is rarely successful unless there is no opposition to the Bill, but some acts of parliament have been introduced in this way, for example the bail (amendment) act 1993 which the prosecution the right to appeal against the granting of bail to a defendant. Members of the House of Lords can also introduce private members bills. Public and private bills A public bill involves matters of the public policy which will affect either the whole country or a large section of it. Most of the government bulls are in this category, for example, the access to justice act 1999, and the powers of criminal courts act 2000 and the criminal justice act 2003. However, not all bills are aimed at changing the law for the entire country; some are designed to pass a law which will affect only individual people or corporations. Parliament Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Under the normal procedure both houses must vote in favour of a bill before it can become a new act of Parliament. The House of Commons The people who sit in the House of Commons are referred to as Members of Parliament. These members of the House Of Commons are elected by the public, with the country being divided into constituencies and each of these returning one Member of Parliament. There must be a general election at least once every five years, though such as election can be called sooner by the Prime Minister. In addition, there may be individual by-elections in constituencies where the MP has died or retired during the current session of parliament. The government of the day is formed by the political party which has a majority in the House of Commons. The House of Lords The house of lords consists of - 92 hereditary peers - life peers - the judges who are the law lords - the most senior bishops on the church of England Originally most of the members of the House of Lords where hereditary peers. During the twentieth century the awarding of a title for life (a life peerage) became more common. The prime Minister nominated people who should receive a title for their lifetime, but this title would not pass on to their children. The title was then awarded by the Monarch. In this way people who had served the country and were thought to be suitable members of the House of Lords where able to bring their expertise to the House. Most life peerages were given to former politicians who had retired from the House of Commons. For example, Margaret Thatcher, who had been Prime Minister in the 1980’s, was made a life peer. Reform of the House of Lords By 1999, there were over 1100 members of the house of Lords, of whom 750 were hereditary peers. The labour government decided that in a modern society an inherited title should not automatically allow someone to participate in making law. They felt that some of the numbers would be elected and some should be nominated. To help decide exactly what reforms should be made, a royal commission (known as the Wakeham commission) was set up to consider how members of the House Of Lords should be selected. In the meantime the right of most of the hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords was abolished in November 1999. Only 92 hereditary peers were allowed to continue to be members of the House of Lords. Judges in the House of Lords The most senior court in England and Wales is also usually referred to as the House of Lords. In fact its full title is the judicial committee of the House of Lords. Only the 12 law lords are allowed to sit on this judicial committee. Take care not to confuse the House of Lords in its legislative (law-making) function with the House of Lords as an appeal court. The process in parliament In order to become an Act of Parliament, the bill will usually have to be passed by both houses of parliament, and in each house there is a long and complex process. A bill may start in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords with the exception of finance bills which must start in the House of Commons. All bills must go through the following stages. First reading This is a formal procedure where the name and main aims of the bull are read out. Usually no discussion takes place, but there will be a vote on whether the house wishes to consider the bill further. The cote may be verbal: this is when the speaker of the House asks the members as a whole how they vote and the members shut out ‘aye’ or ‘no’. If it is clear that nearly all members are in agreement, either for or against, there is no need for a more formal vote. If it is not possible to judge whether more people are shouting ‘aye’ or ‘no’ there will be a more formal vote in which the members of the house vote by leaving the chamber and then walking back in through one of the two special doors on one side or the other of the chamber. There will be two tellers positioned at each of these two voting doors to make a list of the members voting on each side. These tellers count p the number of MP’s who votes for and against and declare these numbers to the speaker in front of the members of the house. Second reading This is the main debate on the whole bill in which MP’s debate the principles rather than the smaller details. Those MP’s who wish to speak in the debate must catch the speakers eye, since the speaker controls all debates and no-one may speak without being called on by the speaker. At the end of this a vote it taken in the same way as for the first reading; obviously there must be a majority in favour for the bill to progress any further. Committee stage At this stage a detailed examination of each clause of the Bill is undertaken by a committee of between 16 and 50 MP’s. This is usually done by what is called a standing committee, which, contrary to its name, is a committee chosen specifically for that Bill. The membership of such a committee is decided having regard to the qualifications of those members nominated and to the composition of the House’. Report stage At the committee stage amendments to various clauses in the bill may have been voted on and passed, so this report stage is where the committee report back to the House on those amendments. If there were no amendments at the committee stage, there will not be a report stage – instead the bull will go straight on to the third reading. Third reading This is the final vote on the bill. it is almost a formality since a bill which has passed through all the stages and above is unlikely to fail at this late stage. In fact in the house of commons there will only be an actual further debate on the bill as a whole if at least six MP’s request it. The House of Lords If the bill started life in the house of commons it is now passed to the house of lords where it foes through the same five stages outlines above and, if the house of lords makes amendments to the bill, then it will go back to the house of commons for it to consider those amendments. Royal Assent The final stage is where the monarch formally gives approval to the bill and it then becomes an Act of Parliament. This is now a formality and under the royal assent act 1961, the monarch will not even have the text of the bills to which she is assenting, she will only have the short title. For more info, go to BritishLaw.info. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Britishlaw.info |
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