Parliament

The House of Commons

• The dominant chamber of parliament as it is elected.
• 646 Mp's sit
• Starts most of the legislation.
• Has the ability to over-rule the decision in the House of Lords.

House of Lords

• This is the inferior chamber as members are appointed.
• They can start legislation but generally amend it.
• It can be veoted (over ruled) by the house of commons. They can delay for 12 months however.

The crown (Queen)

• The Queen has a ceremonial role only.
• She formally enacts a bill by signing it.
• It becomes law at midnight on the day of the signing.
• Also known as 'Royal Assent'

Government bills

• These are outlined in the Queen's speech at opening of parliament.
• Bills bought to governement by governement lawyers, also known as the 'treasury counsel'.

Private member's bill

• Introduced by individual MPs
• They must win a ballot to win chance to present the bill.
• Only 6 or 7 can be presented each year realistically.

Public bills

• These laws affect everyone.
• For example, The Access to Justice Act 1999 concerns everyone that would like to go to court.

Private bills

• These bills affect certain institutions.
• For example, University College London Act 1996 merged medical institutions.

The Law Commission

• It is a full time advisory, set up in 1965.
• Consists of a Chairman who is a high court judge and four other commissioners.
• It works by considering areas of law that need reform.
• It was successful within its first 10 years.
• It came up with 20 law reforms in 2 years.

Pressure Groups

• These are groups that concern themselves with one issue.
• They do not try to get elected.

Insider groups: They have good contacts in government. They rely on lobbying MPs eg: NSPCC

Outsider groups: They tend to rely on the media, public campaigns to make their views known eg: Greenpeace.

Royal Commissions

• They are set up to investigate and report one specific area of the law.
• They are dissolved after they have completed their task.
• Members are selected from judges, lawyers, and others with knowledge of the subject.
• Some royal commissions led to important changes in the law, for example The Police procedure 1981

Parliamentary Sovereignty

• This means supreme law maker.
• It is sovereign because it is democratically elected by the whole of the UK in the name of the Queen.
• It means that it has more political legitimacy than any other body in the UK.

European Union

• The European Communities Act 1972 states that all european treaties become UK law.
• The case of Factortame established that EU law was superior to UK law.
• This means that acts of Parliament can be over-ruled by Europe.

The Human Rights Act 1998

• In 1998, the government formally incorporated the Europan convention of human rights into UK law.
• It outlined rights that all UK citizens could have eg: a right to life.
• This means unless the act is repealed, it would be impossible for parliament to pass a law reintroducing the death penalty.
• It states a right to a fair trial, this is why judges must have no vested interest in a case.
• The act effectively binds later parliaments.

Political Pressure

• Politicians are always conscious of the next election.
• Therefore they are unlikely to do something which would make them unpopular.
• For example, a reluctancy to bring about the european constitution.