TMA 01
1A) The main stages that an idea from a political manifesto is likely to go through before it begins the five-step parliamentary process that will make into an Act of Parliament, starts off as a political commitment in the manifesto of a political party. A manifesto sets out the party’s policies in the early stages of a general election campaign. Due to public demand on, the petition may be communicated through an online petition on the parliament website, which will help the legislation get considered for a parliamentary debate if it reaches 100,000 signatures. Another way, which is more effective is for a pressure group to coordinate a campaign for a change in the law. As well as this, “some ideas for new legislation originate from the Law Commission, which is an independent body, created by the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purpose of monitoring and reviewing the law of England and Wales.”
After this, the first stage is the ‘First reading’ where the Bill is published and the second reading date is published. The second stage is the ‘second reading’ where a debate takes place after the second bill is introduced and the house votes on whether to permit the Bill. The third stage is the ‘Committee stage’, this is where a detailed examination of each clause of the Bill is undertaken by a Public Bill Committee. This is where the committee will get an opportunity to propose amendments to the Bill. The fourth stage is the ‘Report stage’ where the whole House has the opportunity to debate. Finally, the fifth stage is where the house takes a final vote on the Bill.
B) Private Member bills are Bills introduced to the parliament to debate by individual MP’s or members of the House of Lords. In most cases, Private Member bills do not become law, however, the fact that a subject has been raised in Parliament, such as an idea, could lead to changes in the law eventually. The three ways of introducing Private Member Bills, is through Ballots, the ‘ten-minute rule’ or presentation. An example of a Private Members Bill that began as an Act of Parliament, is the bill that became the Abortion Act 1967, which reduced the necessity for many women to undergo dangerous abortions.
2A) The two types of Houses in the UK Parliament are the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This is known as a bicameral legislature because it has two debating chambers (or houses). They are made up of 650 members of Parliament which were elected by the public, to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons. The House of Lords have the important job of making and shaping laws, as well as challenging the work of the government. Members of the House of Lords are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the prime minister.
B) A democracy is a form of government in which the people freely govern themselves, where the executive and the legislative is given to persons chosen by the population, the free people. The House of Lords could not be described as democratic as they shape and amend Bills approved by the House of Commons. As well as this, they are the world’s second largest decision-making body, which means members of the public do not get a say in this process. The House of Commons would be democratic because they articulate ‘public opinion’ in ways that provide useful guidance to the government in making policy choices.
3A) Common law system is based on the doctrine of judicial precedent where no legislative statute exists, and statutes mean what courts interpret them to mean. The civil law system is a legal system that operates in Europe within the framework of Roman law, which has written codes. One difference between the two systems regarding precedence, is that it is only used to determine administration of constitutional court matters in civil law systems, whereas in common law, it is used to rule on future or present cases. Another difference is the history, the Civil law system developed in continental Europe, however, the Common law system evolved primarily in England, its former colonies, the US and Canada. Lastly the way that the law originates, the source, is the main difference between the common law system and civil law system. Common law is also known as ‘judge-made law’, therefore, it gives the judges an active role in developing rules which would be used to aid future cases. Whereas, civil law is based on codes and statutes, therefore, judges have a more limited role of applying the law to the case in hand. The civil law system tends to be a codified body of general abstract principles which control the exercise of judicial discretion. In reality, both these views are extremes, with the former overemphasising the extent to which the common law judges can impose their discretion and the latter underestimating the extent to which civil law judges have the power to exercise judicial discretion.
4A) The way I managed my time was by reading up again on the topics that came up in this assignment, which were on the Parliament, Private Member Bills specifically, the two Houses of Parliament and the differences between the Common law system and Civil law system. Going through my notes and skim reading the information around each topic helped me remember minor details I could add in this essay.
B) One aspect I would do differently for TMA 02 would be to give myself more time to understand each question in a lot more depth so I could answer it better with enough time as I was rushed towards the end due to my lack of time management for this essay. This is due to increased hours at my part time job. Another aspect I would do differently is to get better at learning to reference properly as I have not yet mastered it.