Primary Legislation
Primary legislation refers to laws that are created by a legislative body, such as a parliament or congress. It is the main source of law and is often in the form of acts or statutes. Primary legislation has the highest legal authority within a legal system and serves as the foundation for other types of laws and regulations.
7 Key excerpts on "Primary Legislation"
eBook - ePub- Chris Turner, Jo Boylan-Kemp(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...What defines these as primary sources is the fact that they contain the actual text of the law – i.e. the text of an Act of Parliament or the judgment of the court. You may find reading primary sources heavy going at first as the language used can be very legalistic, but you should persevere as there is no real substitute for reading the primary source. A case summary or an article about an Act may present a particular point of view, but only by reading the primary sources can you get the full picture and begin to form your own opinions. Legislation broadly defined as law made by Parliament Case Law broadly defined as law made from the published decisions of judges in courts of law What are Secondary Sources? Secondary sources provide background information to supplement the primary sources and include journal articles, legal encyclopaedias and textbooks. In conjunction with primary sources, secondary sources can help you become better informed about a topic. 4.1 Legislation Legislation is defined as ‘the whole or any part of a country’s written law’ (Martin, 2009). In the United Kingdom the term is most commonly used to mean law which is made by, or on behalf of, Parliament (as opposed to case law, which is made by judges). Legislation comes in two different kinds – Primary Legislation and secondary legislation. Primary Legislation law made directly by Parliament, and published as Acts of Parliament Secondary Legislation law made by organisations to whom Parliament has delegated authority, and published as Statutory Instruments...
eBook - ePub- Ryan Murphy, Frances Burton(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 4 Law-making in the English Legal System I – Primary Legislation Introduction Under an orthodox examination of the hierarchy of norms, Primary Legislation sits at the apex of a complex pyramid of legal sources (as discussed in Chapter 2). Original sovereignty lies with Parliament and Acts of Parliament have paramount importance within the English Legal System. Such Acts of Parliament are collectively referred to as ‘legislation’ or ‘statutes’. An understanding of how such Primary Legislation is made (i.e. how the original sovereignty is executed) is, therefore, fundamental to any study of the legal system and, indeed, the study of substantive legal subjects. This chapter explores the nature of Primary Legislation (i.e. Acts of Parliament or statutes) and of how such legislation is passed. The text that follows will examine the different types of Acts of Parliament, the detailed process by which a policy idea becomes a law and the roles of the various institutions in the law-making process. The very fabric of the English Legal System is an interwoven blend of law and politics – a fact often forgotten by those lawyers who concentrate heavily on the common law (also called judge-made law or case law, since that has been built up by and through the application of principles identified in decisions of judges in the cases brought before them). This multidisciplinary understanding of law is nowhere more apparent than in the law-making process, which is currently more than usually influenced by politics as the government is absorbed in the demands of ‘Brexit’, 1 which has resulted in much law reform being put on hold and also in the passage of many statutes the priority for which is difficult for the ordinary person to understand while other issues, such as recommendations of the Law Commission, go surprisingly unimplemented...
eBook - ePub- Angela Stanhope, Odette Hutchinson(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...This means that Parliament has the power to enact, revoke or amend any law it wants. Parliament cannot however, bind its successors. This means that no Parliament can enact a law that cannot be revoked or amended by Parliament in the future. Statutes or Acts of Parliament are supreme; they override all existing common law provisions. The courts are subordinate to the legislature (Parliament). In the event of conflict between an Act of Parliament and case law, the Act of Parliament prevails. Aim Higher — revision tip The significance of parliamentary sovereignty should not be underestimated. It is a topic that can come up in its own right. It is also a principle that links to several other topics within all ELS courses. Some students will study Public Law / Constitutional and Administrative Law at the same time as the English legal system and in many ways this is helpful, because it will consolidate knowledge and understanding in this area. For those of you that are not yet studying Public / Constitutional and Administrative Law, you will find more information on the topic in Unlocking Constitutional and Administrative Law by Ryan and Foster. This is a really approachable textbook and it has lots of useful diagrams and tables. Primary Legislation The origins of legislation The government in the English legal system is responsible for generating, and enacting, most legislation that becomes law. It is possible, however, for individual Members of Parliament to propose legislation. This can happen in one of three ways: All statutes begin life as a Bill. A Bill may start life as a government consultation paper...
eBook - ePub- Jacqueline Martin(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...3 Legislation 3.1 Acts of Parliament About 70 to 80 Acts of Parliament are passed each year. In addition there is a considerable amount of delegated legislation each year, including over 3,000 statutory instruments. If a legislative provision is not clear then the judges have to interpret it in order to apply it. 3.1.1 Pre-parliamentary process and consultation 1 Pressure for new laws comes from a variety of sources. The main ones are: • Government policy; • EU Law; • Law Commission reports; • reports by other commissions or committees; • pressure groups. 2 The Government sets out its legislative programme for the parliamentary session in the Queen’s Speech at the opening of Parliament. 3 Usually the government department responsible for the projected legislation will decide whether to consult prior to issuing a Green Paper. 4 Making the Law (1992), a Report by the Hansard Society, emphasised the need for consultation. It pointed out that the lack of consultation could lead to last-minute changes in Bills as they went through Parliament, as happened with the Broadcasting Bill 1989. 5 Consultation has become more common in recent years. 6 The Law Commission has a duty to review areas of law and will research and consult before drawing up proposals for reform. 7 Some Bills may be the result of reports by other committees or commissions, which will have heard evidence about the issues concerned. 3.1.2 Green and White Papers 1 A Green Paper sets out the tentative proposals for changes to the law and invites comments. 2 Green Papers were first used in 1967 and are now usually used as part of the legislative process. 3 A White Paper is a firm proposal for a new law. Sometimes there may be a draft Bill annexed to the White Paper. 3.1.3 The drafting process 1 A draft Act is called a Bill. 2 The vast majority of Bills are introduced by the Government of the day...
eBook - ePubLaw, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 1
Rules and Order
- F. A. Hayek(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- University of Chicago Press(Publisher)
...SIX THESIS: THE LAW OF LEGISLATION The judge addresses himself to standards of consistency, equivalence, predictability, the legislator to fair shares, social utility and equitable distribution. Paul A. Freund * Legislation originates from the necessity of establishing rules of organization While in political theory the making of law has traditionally been represented as the chief function of legislative bodies, their origin and main concern had little to do with the law in the narrow sense in which we have considered it in the last chapter. This is especially true of the Mother of Parliaments: the English legislature arose in a country where longer than elsewhere the rules of just conduct, the common law, were supposed to exist independently of political authority. As late as the seventeenth century, it could still be questioned whether parliament could make law inconsistent with the common law. 1 The chief concern of what we call legislatures has always been the control and regulation of government, 2 that is the direction of an organization—and of an organization only one of whose aims was to see that the rules of just conduct were obeyed. As we have seen, rules of just conduct did not need to be deliberately made, though men gradually learned to improve or change them deliberately. Government, by contrast, is a deliberate contrivance which, however, beyond its simplest and most primitive forms, also cannot be conducted exclusively by ad hoc commands of the ruler. As the organization which a ruler builds up to preserve peace and to keep out external enemies, and gradually to provide an increasing number of other services, becomes more and more distinct from the more comprehensive society comprising all the private activities of the citizens, it will require distinct rules of its own which determine its structure, aims, and functions...
eBook - ePubLaw, Legislation and Liberty
A New Statement of the Liberal Principles of Justice and Political Economy
- F.A. Hayek(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...SIX THESIS: THE LAW OF LEGISLATION The judge addresses himself to standards of consistency, equivalence, predictability, the legislator to fair shares, social utility and equitable distribution. Paul A. Freund * Legislation originates from the necessity of establishing rules of organization While in political theory the making of law has traditionally been represented as the chief function of legislative bodies, their origin and main concern had little to do with the law in the narrow sense in which we have considered it in the last chapter. This is especially true of the Mother of Parliaments: the English legislature arose in a country where longer than elsewhere the rules of just conduct, the common law, were supposed to exist independently of political authority. As late as the seventeenth century, it could still be questioned whether parliament could make law inconsistent with the common law. 1 The chief concern of what we call legislatures has always been the control and regulation of government, 2 that is the direction of an organization—and of an organization only one of whose aims was to see that the rules of just conduct were obeyed. As we have seen, rules of just conduct did not need to be deliberately made, though men gradually learned to improve or change them deliberately. Government, by contrast, is a deliberate contrivance which, however, beyond its simplest and most primitive forms, also cannot be conducted exclusively by ad hoc commands of the ruler. As the organization which a ruler builds up to preserve peace and to keep out external enemies, and gradually to provide an increasing number of other services, becomes more and more distinct from the more comprehensive society comprising all the private activities of the citizens, it will require distinct rules of its own which determine its structure, aims, and functions...
eBook - ePub- S. A. Walkland(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...I Legislation as a Process T he end-products of legislation are easily recognized. They are Acts of Parliament as published in the Statutes Revised, and the contents of the collected annual volumes of Statutory Instruments. Difficulties arise, however, when a conceptual definition of legislation is attempted—to try to show how, in substance, legislation differs from other broad governmental processes such as administration and adjudication. Attempts at a rigid classification along conceptual lines break down at the margins, and the conclusion cannot be avoided that the main differences between the ways in which determinations of public questions are made in any governmental system are largely procedural, and do not relate to any general inherent functional differences between the main activities of public authorities. A conceptual definition of legislation which is often attempted states that it consists, to quote one authority, ‘of the making of determinations which are issued to indicated but unnamed and unspecified persons or situations’. 1 Here the important characteristic of legislation is regarded as being that of generality of application. Another definition, substantially similar, and attempting to distinguish between legislation and the work of the courts, suggests that legislation normally ‘affects the rights of individuals in the abstract and must be applied in a further proceeding before the legal position of an individual will be touched by it, whilst adjudication operates concretely upon individuals in their individual capacity’. 2 The Donoughmore-Scott Report on Ministers’ Powers in 1932 similarly held that ‘the power to issue a particular command’ was ‘in no sense legislative’. 3 Other attempts at defining a legislative function rely on the fact that legislation characteristically looks to the future, whilst judicial enquiries investigate present or past facts. 1 K. C. Davis, Administrative Law, St Paul, 1951, p...
