Transcript Lay Magistrates – advantages and disadvantages

3. Advantages and Disadvantages
of Parliamentary Law Making
Lesson Objectives
• Discuss the advantages of Parliamentary
Law Making
• Discuss the disadvantages of
Parliamentary Law Making
Making law in Parliament: advantages and
disadvantages
Advantages
•
Elected representatives - democratic
a) General election at least every five years
b) Electorate can vote out any government
Disadvantages
•
Lack of Parliamentary
time to deal with all
reformed legislation
e.g. Law on assaults
•
a)
Entire areas of law can be reformed in one Act
Whereas judges can only change the law on very
small areas of law “piecemeal”
Proactive reform, not reactive
•
•
a)
Ability to delegate (see Chapter 3)
Allowing detailed law requiring specialist
knowledge to be passed
b)
•
a)
b)
Very thorough system
Consultation - high profile of Parliament
Passage of bills is long and complex (see next
presentation)
•
a)
Certainty
Cannot be challenged: see Parliamentary
Sovereignty
b)
a)
Acts are often very
long and complex
And therefore difficult
for members of the
public to understand
Even more
complicated and
difficult to find if more
than one Act has to be
consulted to find out
what the law is
Advantages
Scrutiny
The legislative process is very thorough
3 readings and 2 stages
This ensures several opportunities for debate,
scrutiny and amendment, ensuring the removal
of mistakes
Democratic
MPs are democratically elected
During debates on proposed laws each MP has
the opportunity to put the point of their
constituents across
The House of Lords are not democratically
elected and don’t have the power to veto a bill
The Monarch is unelected but their role is a
formality
Government Control
The Government has control over law making
Controls parliamentary timetable and likely to
win at each stage
The government is the preferred choice of the
majority of the population
Backed up by expertise in field
House of Lords
Checking mechanism against political agendas
Power of delay leads to more debate
Lots of expertise therefore high quality scrutiny
Independent, whereas MPs have to follow party
leadership (usually!)
Special rules with money bills – protects against unlawful
taxation
Flexibility
Several different bills means all Lords and
MPs can propose new laws
This helps when the Government does not
want to be seen proposing controversial
legislation
(Abortion Act 1967, Marriage Act 1994)
Disadvantages
Undemocratic
House of Lords and Queen are unelected
MPs persuaded to vote what their party wants
and not their constituency
Government only answerable to electorate every
5 years
Government Control
Government will have the majority of MPs
in the House of Commons
Can vote out private members’ bills that
don’t fit its agenda
The Government is arguably too powerful
and is able to bypass the House of Lords –
Hunting Act 2004
Slow
Slow process
Many readings and stages
Can take months which is not appropriate when
laws need to made quickly (Legal Highs)
Royal Assent is a formality and wastes more
time
Dated process, language and
statistics
Draftsmen use ambiguous language
Means the judiciary have to interpret this when applying the law –
75% of cases are about how an act should be read (statutory
interpretation)
Sometimes Acts have no clear sequence
Makes the law inaccessible to the average person
Not all acts become law at Royal Assent so you may have to
research regulations issued by the Minister
(PACE 1984)
Your Task
It’s debate time!