THE LAW MAKING PROCESS

UNIT 3
 Types Of Authority
• LEGISLATION
• CASES
• BOOKS
• JOUNALS
• NEWSPAPERS
• WEBSOURCES
 LEGISLATION
• What is Legislation
 Legislation is defined as laws and rules made by
Parliament which is the arm of the state assigned the
power to make all law applicable in the country
 Enacted laws are called Acts of Parliament/statutes
 Statutes or Acts of Parliament are known as primary
legislation
• The term ‘Legislation’ is derived from the Latin words
‘Legis’ a law and ‘Laterm’ meaning to ‘make’, ‘put’, ‘set’.
Thus etymologically, legislation means making or setting
the law.
Parliament may delegate its powers to make law to
Ministers or a Local Authority which is known as
subsidiary or delegated legislation.
 Such subsidiary legislation is contained in statutory
instruments drafted under authority of and in line with a
particular Act of Parliament
 The local government also has powers to make by-laws,
which are applicable within their municipalities
 Delegated Legislation
Delegated legislation means legislation made by bodies other than the legislature.
.
In other words, it means legislation made by bodies to whom power of making law
has been delegated by the supreme legislative authority. Delegation of the
legislative power under various types of statutes is a normal feature of present day
statutory legislation. Now it is simply inevitable and indispensable. Its necessity
must be realised in view of the hunger for social, economic legislation, industrial
laws, labour laws, commodity control legislation, public welfare legislation and
unavoidability of the standing public security and emergency laws. The increasing
volume of the Parliamentary legislative business, increasing gap between demand
for legislation and the legislative performance, need for general standing laws
suitable for unforeseen situations. Lack of technological, scientific know-how and
expertise, so very necessary for modern legislation, and limitations of the time have
made delegation of authority and discretion an unavoidable necessity.
 HOW ARE LAWS MADE?
 The legislative function of Parliament is to make laws.
 The Government or any Member of Parliament who wishes to
have a certain law passed by Parliament brings the proposed law
to Parliament.
 A proposed law is called a “bill”
 TYPES OF BILLS
 There are 3 types of bills:
a. Government Bills;
b. Private Members' Bills, and
c. Private Bills
 Government and Private Members' bills are called “Public bills”
because they affect the public as a whole
 Bills
 A Government bill is presented by a Government Minister, while a
Private Members' bill is presented by a Member of Parliament
who is not a Government Minister, or who is a Member of the
back-bench.
 A Private bill is promoted by outside bodies and affects limited
sections of the public. it is presented to National Assembly by a
member of the back-bench
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

First Reading
 This when the Minister or a member presenting the bill
introduces it in Parliament
 The Presenter simply reads out the title of the bill.
 There is no debate of the bill at this stage
 E.g. Constitution (Amendment) Bill No.10 of 2019
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Second reading
 This is when the bill is debated in detail. the presenter of the bill
gives details of what the bill is all about and what it intends to do.
 MPs then debate the bill either supporting or opposing it. they
indicate what changes or additions they would like to make to the
bill.
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Committee stage
 At this stage, the bill is considered either by the Committee of the
whole House or a specialised Committee of a few Members,
exaqmining it in detail, clause by clause.Members are free to make
amendments to the Bill.
 The purpose of this stage is to perfect the bill in terms of content,
purpose, language and punctuation to ensure that the ideas
contained therein are properly expressed
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Report Stage
 Where the bill has been amended at Committee stage, the
Committeee that considered the bill reports back to the whole
House
 Members are free to make further amendments during the report
stage of the bill.
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Third Reading
 the bill is read to the House after the Committee stage or report
stage
 this is the final stage that the House has to look at the bill and be
satisfied that the bill has been properly handled or dealt with
 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Presidential Assent
 After the bill has been passed by Parliament, it has to be
presented to the President for assent, that is for signing
 Once signed, the bill becomes law immediately or at a
later date depending on what the bill itself states
 A signed bill is called an Act of Parliament
 FINDING ZAMBIAN LEGISLATION
National Assembly of Zambia
 http://www.parliament.gov.zm/
 Publications --> Laws of Zambia --> Acts/Bills
Zambia Legal Information Institute (ZamLii)
 https://zambialii.org/
 ZambiaLII is a pioneer in the free access to law movement and
serves as a reliable and timely source of judicial decisions
 Using legislation

 The statutory laws of Zambia are contained in a set of loose leaf

volumes known as the Laws of Zambia.

 The Attorney General is empowered to revise the laws of Zambia.
 Revision of the laws is necessitated by on-going changes and
developments in the legal system.
 However, the laws of Zambia were last revised in 1997
Using legislation: Anatomy of an Act of Parliament

 Short title
 Citation
 Commencement
 Preamble
 Main body
 Using legislation: Incorporating in to Written Work

• A statute must be referred to by its short title

• Use appropriate terms
• Examples:
– Article 1(1) of the Constitution provides that…
– Section 2 of the Marriage Act defines a marriage as…
– According to section 99 of the Penal code…
 Exercise

• Find Legislation relating to the following legal aspects, giving

the short title, citation and commencement for each:
– Relating to Income Tax
– Criminalising seditious practices
– Providing for mental health
– Containing the most recent amendments to the Constitution
– Providing for closure of Universities due to the Covid19
pandemic