Statute Law in Britain

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Statute Law in Britain
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Revision

• Which are sources of English law?
• What is meant by common law?
• How can law be classified by type?
• How would you define public v. private law?

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Complete the following

• Common law is also called __________ law.
• Equity means ___________________.
• Statute law is made by _____________.
• EU law can _____________ national law.

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Separation of powers

• Executive the government
• Legislative - Parliament
• Judicial hierarchy of courts

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(No Transcript)
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Parliament

• The highest legislative organ
• Constitutionally consists of the Monarch, The
  House of Lords and the House of Commons
• The Queen in Parliament represents the supreme
  authority within the United Kingdom

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The House of Commons

• An elected and representative body
• 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) who represent
  their constituencies
• Members are elected at General Elections held
  every five years
• Members are paid a salary and an allowance

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Speaker

• Speaker of the House of Commons presides over the
  House
• The traditional guardian of the rights and
  privileges of the House

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Video exercise

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0ToKcEvqXuMlistPL
  7F1AFC4FF75A3725index5featureplpp_video

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Answer the following

• Who sits at the Speakers right side?
• Who is Sarjeant at Arms?
• What is Hansard?

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The House of Lords in the past

• In the past mainly a hereditary body
• Lords Temporal (hereditary peers and peeresses
  who have not disclaimed their peerage life peers
  created by the Crown under the Life Peerages Act
  of 1958 and Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Law
  Lords)
• Lords Spiritual (the Archbishops of Canterbury
  and York and 24 senior bishops of the Church of
  England)

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The House of Lords today

• The Lords currently has around 740 Members, and
  there are three different types
• elected hereditary Peers, life Peers (Lords
  Temporal) and bishops (Lords Spiritual)
• Unlike MPs, the public do not elect the Lords.
  The majority are appointed by the Queen on the
  recommendation of the Prime Minister or of the
  House of Lords Appointments Commission.

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Elected hereditary Peers

• The right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in
  the House of Lords was ended in 1999 by the House
  of Lords Act but 92 Members were elected
  internally to remain until the next stage of the
  Lords reform process.

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Life Peers

• Appointed for their lifetime only, these Lords'
  titles are not passed on to their children. The
  Queen formally appoints life Peers on the advice
  and recommendation of the Prime Minister.

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Bishops (Lords Spiritual)

• A limited number of 26 Church of England
  archbishops and bishops sit in the House, passing
  their membership on to the next most senior
  bishop when they retire.

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Lord Chancellor

• Speaker of the House of Lords
• A member of the government Minister of Justice
• Until 2009 presided over the judicial committee
  of the House of Lords

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Video exercise

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-wVllfyvGfUlistPL
  7F1AFC4FF75A3725index6featureplpp_video

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• What did you learn about Life Peers?
• What is the role of the Lord Speaker?
• What is Woolsack?

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The Monarch

• An integral part of the legislature
• Summons, prorogues (dismisses at the end of a
  session) and dissolves Parliament
• Opens new sessions of Parliament with the Royal
  Speech
• Gives Royal Assent before a Bill which has passed
  all the stages in both Houses becomes a law

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Pressure for new laws

• Pressure for new laws comes from a variety of
  sources, mainly
• Government policy
• EU Law
• Law Commission reports
• Reoprts by other commissions
• Pressure groups

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Pre-parliamentary process

• The Government sets its legislative programme for
  the parliamentary session in the Queens Speech
  at the opening of Parliament
• Consultation more common in recent years (The
  Law Commission)

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Types of Bill

• Government Bill introduced by the Government
  through the relevant Minister
• Public Bill one which relates to matters that
  affect the public
• Private Bill one which relates to the powers
  and interests of certain individuals or
  institutions
• Hybrid Bill one which features both a public
  and a private Bill
• Private Members Bill one introduced by a MP

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Passing a Bill

• A Bill may be started in either the House of
  Commons or the House of Lords, but it has to go
  through the same procedure in each House and pass
  all stages of the legislative procedure in order
  to become law

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Legislative Procedure

• Principal stages (for government bills)
• Inspiration
• Formulation
• Drafting
• Parliamentary Scrutiny
• Voting
• The Royal Assent
• Implementation

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Inspiration

• Ideas for a law come from a variety of sources
  (political parties, Government departments,
  interest groups, professional bodies)

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Formulation

• Becomes the responsibility of relevant Ministers
  and civil servants
• Cabinet committees
• Consultation with experts, interest groups, trade
  associations and others likely to be affected by
  the legislation

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Drafting

• Preparation of a draft bill
• Draft bills introduced to Parliament

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Parliamentary Scrutiny

• First reading (no debate)
• Second reading (principle debated on floor)
• Committee stage (clause-by-clause scrutiny in
  Standing Committee)
• Report (amendments considered on floor)
• Third reading (final version debated)
• Voting

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The Royal Assent

• The Queen has to sign the Bill
• Then it becomes an Act of Parliament
• The Statute Book
• Implementation binding for all the courts in
  the country
• Interpretation leads to precedents

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Repeal

• If a new statute is clearly contrary to the old
  one already in the Statute Book, the new one must
  clearly repeal those parts of the old statute
• The old statute (or its parts) are no longer
  valid

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Vocabulary

• House of Commons Donji dom
• House of Lords Gornji dom
• Hereditary peerage nasljedno plemstvo
• Constituency izborna jedinica
• Bill prijedlog zakona
• Repeal opoziv zakona

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Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate
word(s) from the list below

• bill, supreme, law, legislative, elected,
  dissolves, hereditary, members
• Parliament is the ______________ organ and is
  constitutionally composed of the Monarch, the
  House of Lords and the House of Commons. The
  Queen in Parliament represents the
  ________________ authority within the United
  Kingdom. The House of Commons is an
  _______________ and representative body, with
  _________________ elected at General Elections
  every five years. Before 1999 the House of Lords
  used to be a ___________________ body. The Queen
  summons, prorogues and ___________________
  Parliament. No ______________ can become a
  _________ unless the Queen gives Royal Assent.

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Answer key

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• Parliament is the legislative organ and is
  constitutionally composed of the Monarch, the
  House of Lords and the House of Commons. The
  Queen in Parliament represents the supreme
  authority within the United Kingdom. The House of
  Commons is an elected and representative body,
  with members elected at General Elections every
  five years. Before 1999 the House of Lords used
  to be a hereditary body. The Queen summons,
  prorogues and dissolves Parliament. No bill can
  become a law unless the Queen gives Royal Assent.

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Thank you for attention!