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 Elected representatives - democratic General election at least every five years Electorate can vote out any government 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 Ability to delegate (see Chapter 3) Allowing detailed law requiring specialist knowledge to be passed Very thorough system Consultation - high profile of Parliament Passage of bills is long and complex (see next presentation) Certainty Cannot be challenged: see Parliamentary Sovereignty Disadvantages Lack of Parliamentary time to deal with all reformed legislation e.g. Law on assaults 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!