Law Making

Parliamentary law making

1. Pressure groups
There are 2 types of pressure group;

Sectional (interest group)

Cause (pressure group)

Type of pressure group Explanation Illustration

Sectional They exist to further the British Medical Association,
(Interest group) interests of a particular group Trade Union Congress, National
of people. Union of Teachers, Law Society.
Cause They exist to further a Jamie Oliver – school dinners
(Pressure group) particular idea. campaign – The Education
(Nutritional Standards for
School Food) (England)
Regulations 2006. The RSPCA
Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Advantages of pressure groups:

 Raises public awareness
 Keeps parliament in touch with what the public wants
 Large numbers of people are usually involved. More so than in a political party
 They have expertise (researched and committed to the cause)
 Able to use a wide range of methods to promote their cause eg.
 Demonstrations
 Lobbying
 Social networks
 Media attention

Disadvantages of pressure groups:

 No guarantee for change (a large campaign doesn’t always get results)

 Campaigns can spill over into violence or criminal activity (animal rights)

 Can be biased / narrow minded whereas the government have to balance their cause
 Some groups have disproportionate influence (varying depending on wealth of people
involved or their organisation)
Therefore law may be changed although the campaign only represented a small minority
 2. Media Influence

Examples include:

 Following the murder of Sarah Paine in 2000, a News of the World campaign began to name
and shame paedophiles. This led to the government passing a law requiring police to keep a
register of convicted paedophiles.
 The murder of Stephen Laurence and the acquittal of the suspects led to a reform of the
‘double jeopardy’ rule. From April 2007 a suspect can be retried if new evidence has been
found.

Advantages of Media Influence:

 Raises government and public awareness (see pressure groups)
 If the media shows public interest in a cause then the government may act to maintain
support

Disadvantages of Media Influence:

 The press (more so than TV or radio) may be accused of sensationalism and political bias;
therefore their campaigns may reflect these points. TV and radio have more regulations
requiring them to be more politically neutral.
 The press may stir up a moral panic which may leas to rushed or poorly prepared legislation
eg. Dangerous Dogs act 1991

3. Law Commission

Established by the Law Commission Act 1965, it is a permanent body. 5 commissioners are appointed
by the Lord Chancellor. It usually includes solicitors, barristers and university law lecturers.

Its function is to review the law and to make recommendations, eg. In the 1980s it worked on
codifying the criminal law and in the 1990s it examined civil law.

About 70% of the commission’s recommendations become legislation. The commission will draft a
working paper that sets out the legal problem, reaches a conclusion and makes future proposals.
Before making the report, it interviews organisations and individuals, such as pressure groups. This is
so that they are able to put their views across, eg. The commission published a paper entitled:

‘Offenses Against Public Order’ in 1982 after mob violence in cities in 1981.

Advantages of the Law Commission:

 The law is reviewed by those practicing it, so they have practical knowledge
 It ensures that the law is reviewed on a regular basis

Disadvantages of the Law Commission:

 Suggests that lawyers have too much influence
 Governments may not prioritise changing the law (lack of funding or political reasons) so law
change can be slow

Parliamentary Sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty means;

 Parliaments power is unlimited in that it can make laws on any subject

 The validity of parliament cannot be questioned
Eg. By the courts, church, monarchy etc.
 Parliament can’t limit the law making power of any future parliament, therefore parliament
cannot pass a permanent law (entrench the law)

Britain joined the EU on the 1st January 1973. Parliament is no longer the supreme law maker
because EU law will prevail if there is a conflict between the EU and parliament.

A recent challenge to the powers of the EU came in the case of Ex Parte Factortame 1991.
This concerned the rights of Spanish fishermen to fish in British waters. Spain argued that the
Merchant Shipping Act 1988 was against EU law and that the law should be suspended pending trial.
English courts refused because they couldn’t suspend an act of parliament. The European court of
justice said that the act should be suspended and gave courts the right to limit parliamentary
sovereignty in some circumstances.

Parliament has to pass laws to comply with EU law. Eg. About a third of legislation is made to
implement EU law. Sovereignty has been limited but we can avoid surrendering it by withdrawing
from the EU through legislation because membership cannot be entrenched in law.

The effect of the Human Rights Act:

The Human Rights Act incorporated the EU convention on human rights into UK law in 1998. All
legislation must comply with human rights, eg. Before the second reading, the government minister
has to declare whether the bill is compatible with the Human Rights Act.

There have been about 20 declarations of incompatibility eg. 2004, the Anti Terrorism Act 2001 was
changed. The act allowed indefinite holding of foreign suspects without charge if they couldn’t be
deported. The House of Lords declared that it was incompatible; therefore new legislation was
passed in the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.

It has a limited effect on sovereignty; it can’t make legislation invalid, it can only declare it
incompatible. Any amendment must be done by parliament.

Current debate over prisoners rights to vote:

The government was given 6 months to lift the ban on prisoner’s rights to vote by the EU according
to conventional human rights. At present, the government have still not complied. (September 2011)

Devolution:
Scotland and Wales have power (to make domestic laws) devolved to them. Eg. The Scotland Act and
the government of Wales Act 1998 set up the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly. The
powers don’t include defence or foreign policy, but it does remove some parliamentary sovereignty
(although the acts could be repealed).

Creation of Parliamentary law

Legislation starts as a Bill, usually introduced by the House of Commons, but has to be approved by
the House of Lords and needs to receive Royal Assent. Public Bills are most common and are
introduced by the government to further their policies. Less common are private members’ Bills
introduced by one or more backbenchers. Sometimes these will be supported by a particular
pressure group. Few of these Bills become law due to lack of Parliamentary time. However some
have been important in changing the law (eg. 1967 Act legalising abortion). There are also private
Bills which affect a certain section of society or area of the country (eg. Laws affecting business
corporations)

For law making process, see separate sheet

Advantages of Parliamentary law making:

Scrutiny -

The stages in the legislative process are thorough and allow time for a Bill to be examined, debated
and amended if necessary. Therefore the finished statute should be free of loop holes and represent
the intentions of parliament.

Democratic –

Law is created by the elected parliament (largely the House of Commons). The unelected House of
Lords only has limited powers to delay legislation and the assent is a formality.

Flexibility –

Although the government introduces most Bills, there is a provision for private members’ Bills which
allows MPs outside of the government to propose legislation. Legislation can also be introduced by
the House of Lords.

Government control –

The government is elected and controls most of the legislation that is passed. The ministers that
introduce the legislation will have knowledge and expertise in their fields as will the civil servants
who help them to draft the Bills.

Disadvantages of Parliamentary law making:

Undemocratic –
Elements of Parliamentary law making are undemocratic in that the House of Lords is an unelected
body, as is the monarch but they both have ‘a say’ in what legislation is passed. Civil Servants have a
large role in drafting Bills and they are also unaccountable to. The government can introduce Bills
that are not on its manifesto. Also they are only accountable to election once every 5 years.

Government control –

It could be argued that the government is too powerful as very few private members’ Bills get
through (eg. 2005 – 2006 there were 130 pieces of legislation passed and of those, only 3 were
private members’ Bills). The government can also bypass the House of Lords due to previous
Parliaments’ Acts which limit the powers of the House of Lords to only be able to delay Bills (eg. 2004
Hunting Act had to bypass the House of Lords)

Slow –

Due to the stages a Bill has to go through it is a very time consuming process. It is likely to take
anywhere from a few months to a year, hence the need for delegated legislation (which has been
criticized for increasing the undemocratic elements to law making)

Outdated nature of the process –

When a Bill is drafted parliament may use archaic language because it has been tested in the law
courts and may have specific legal meaning. This can mean that the law becomes inaccessible to the
ordinary person and that the process can be unclear (eg. Judges often have to interpret the law and
in some cases it isn’t clear when the law comes into force).