Act of parliament

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 213.253.40.243 (talk) at 13:03, 6 February 2003 (fixed). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jump to navigation Jump to search

An Act of Parliament is a law passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It usually starts as a draft proposal, known as a White Paper. A Bill is then introduced into the House of Commons and receives its First Reading and Second Reading and then moves on to the Committee Stage and the Report Stage. The Bill is then examined by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and is voted on. Unlike the American system, Parliamentary committees are not very powerful and most of the drafting is performed by the Cabinet.

Since the mid-19th century, in most but not all cases, the votes by the House of Commons are a formality in which the vote is predetermined by party lines. Because the Westminister system requires the government to keep the support of the House of Commons, the rejection of a bill by Commons is a major political crisis. Therefore, the government will in almost all cases ensure passage of a bill by a combination of modifying the bill so that it is acceptable to members of the ruling party and pressuring party members to vote for the bill. Unlike the American system, a member of parliament almost never votes against party instructions and doing so is an act of political suicide.

Exceptions are cases of political crisis or matters of conscience such as the death penalty in which the government may declare a free vote in which members of parliament are absolved of the requirement of voting with their party.

It can either fail or pass and then go on to final examination by the Monarch who gives it the Royal Assent. Although the Monarch can in theory refuse to endorse a bill at this stage, this power has not been used since the early 18th century. The Actual signing of the bill is no longer done by the monarch themselves. It then becomes part of the law of the land.

Acts of Parliament are of two types - public acts are for laws of general application (e.g. reforming the criminal justice system), and private acts are for specific purposes (e.g. allowing Universities to merge, or to create a new railway or canal). Traditionally Acts of Parliament were all powerful - under the (unwritten) UK constitution parliament is supreme above all other powers in the UK and so may do anything by Act of Parliament. Therefore Acts of Parliament have been used to merge with other countries (e.g. Acts of Union 1707 (Scotland) and 1801 (Ireland)) and to demerge or release them from colony status (e.g. Canada Act, and the Act separating the Republic of Ireland).

Parliament also acts through Statutory Instruments. These are laws which are written by a Government minister and must be approved by Parliament before they can become law. They are used because they tend to be faster and simpler to impliment than a full act of Parliament. A Minister may only draft such laws if permitted to do so by an Act of Parliament. Most European Union legislation is brought into UK law via this method.

International treaties are not effective in domestic UK law until enforced by an Act of Parliament (e.g. The Single European Act, which brought the UK into the European Union, or the strangely named Outer Space Act which deals with international treaties on Space).

All Acts of Parliament since 1497 are kept in the House of Lords Record Office, including the oldest Act: The "Taking of Apprentices for Worsteads in the County of Norfolk" Act 1497, a reference to the wool worsted manufacture at Worstead in Norfolk, England.

Acts before 1962 are referenced using 'Year of reign', 'Monarch', c., 'Chapter number' - e.g. 16 Charles II c. 2 - to define a chapter of the appropriate statute book.

Current Acts of Parliament of special interest:

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Act_of_parliament&oldid=653821"