How Laws Are Made:

Laws are the building blocks of our society. No country can function effectively without them. The United Kingdom is governed by a body of law that applies across the land, which is known as common law.

Common law dates back to the 11th century and constitutes a record of all judgements (known as case law) made over the centuries. The core principle of case law is that once a court has ruled on a particular issue, all similar cases brought before the courts after this ruling should be treated in the same manner. The strength of this principle is that it offers citizens a greater degree of predictability than if judges were to interpret the law on a case-by-case basis.

However, over the centuries common law has gradually been supplemented by parliamentary legislation (known as statute law once enacted). Today, statutory law is supreme. Parliamentary legislation often ‘absorbs’ pieces of common law into acts. This is known as ‘codifying’ the law because it sets down in writing how the law stands on particular issues and in various sets of circumstance.

How an Act of Parliament comes into existence

An act of parliament can be described as a document that sets out what parliament has deemed to be the law on a particular issue. Today, an act usually begins life in a period of consultation, before becoming a proposal for the act, known as a “bill”. The bill is then introduced to parliament and subjected to considerable scrutiny, debate and often a series of amendments, before being passed by both Houses of Parliament to become an act. The final stage is the act being given the Royal Assent to become law.

Consultation Stage

The consultation process of a bill is carried out by the government department that is sponsoring the bill e.g. on issues of policing the Home Office sponsors the bill, on issues of trading standards the DTI will be responsible. Consultation offers the opportunity for groups likely to be affected by a change in the law to present their comments and proposals to government. The consultation process is not the same for every proposed bill and the procedure followed at the discretion of the government of the day.

Green Paper: Green Paper is the term given to the draft of a proposed bill, which the sponsoring department has prepared as a starting point for the consultation process. Interested groups have the chance to comment on the document and suggest changes and improvements. The views of interested groups may, and often are, taken into account, although the minister will have the final say on the exact wording.

White Paper: After the initial discussion stage, the department may choose to publish a white paper. This will form the basis of the bill that is introduced to parliament. Whilst comments and objections can be made to the content of a white paper, they are less likely to result in changes to the bill than if they were made at the green paper stage.

Not all bills have white and green papers. It is up to the government to decide whether or not these are produced.

Drafting a Bill

Once a department has agreed on what it wants to achieve, it gives instructions to the Parliamentary Counsel Office to draw up a bill that will secure these objectives. The wording must ensure that there is no ambiguity and that there is no risk that the courts could misinterpret it. When the department is happy with the draft, it becomes a bill and is put before parliament.

A Bill's Passage Through Parliament

Passing legislation is a very lengthily process and the majority of parliamentary time is reserved to this effect.

First Reading: The first reading of a bill sees it formally presented to parliament. It is not debated on this occasion: only the full title of the bill is read in the chamber. After this, the bill is printed and distributed to MPs so that they have a chance to read it before it is debated in the House.

Second Reading: The second reading of a bill is the first chance that the minister bringing it before the House of Commons has to explain why it needs to become law. It also provides an opportunity for MPs opposed to the bill to question the minister. It is usually during second reading speeches that live politics become interesting, as these speeches tend to set out the grander moral, political and philosophical points surrounding the proposed legislation, rather than focussing on the more obscure legal technicalities. If the House votes in favour of the bill at this stage, it is then passed on to a specially created standing committee, which examines in detail the proposals contained in the bill.

Committee Stage: The standing committee usually comprises between 15 and 50 MPs. The members of each standing committee are chosen according to party size in the Commons and usually include the main spokesperson on the issue from each party. The relatively small size of these committees allows for a more detailed debate on the bill to take place than would otherwise be possible in the House. This debate can take several months and offers a chance for MPs to suggest changes and amendments to the bill. The committee votes on these amendments and, if they are accepted, the bill is reprinted to reflect the changes made by the standing committee.

Report Stage: Once the bill has been reprinted, it is brought before the House once more so that all MPs can be informed of the work of the standing committee and suggest further changes. The bill is reprinted once more to reflect the changes made at report stage.

Third Reading : The third reading provides one more opportunity for the whole of the House of Commons to reappraise the bill. A vote then takes place on whether to approve the bill and send it on to the next stage of the legislative process or to reject it. If the bill is approved at third reading it is sent by hand to the House of Lords for their consideration.

House of Lords stages: When it leaves the Commons, the process of 1 st reading, 2 nd reading, committee stage, report stage and 3 rd readings of the bill is replicated in the House of Lords. Any changes or amendments made by the Lords are then taken back to the House of Commons and reprinted as a new bill for their further consideration. Uncontroversial amendments are usually passed, but on more contentious items the Commons sends a note back to the Lords explaining why it is rejecting the amendment. It is then up to the Lords to decide whether or not they accept this reasoning.

If the House of Lords does not accept the changes, the bill will be sent back to the Commons with a similar amendment and a process known as ‘ping-ponging’ ensues, where the bill passes back and forth between Commons and Lords until a compromise is reached. If this cannot be achieved, the Commons can eventually get its way by re-introducing the bill in the next session of parliament because the House of Lords cannot reject a bill that has been passed by the Commons in two successive sessions. Alternatively it can summon the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, which give the House of Commons supremacy over decisions reached by the unelected upper chamber.

Use of the Parliament Act is an extreme measure and, until it was applied during the hunting bill in 2004, had only been used four times in the last century. This gave rise to much criticism surrounding the government’s decision to use a historic and important parliamentary tool to overrule a piece of legislation that was relatively low on people’s lists of priorities.

The Royal Assent

Once the bill has been approved by parliament, it is sent to the Queen for Royal Assent. As the official head of state, the monarch’s assent is needed for any bill to become part of UK law. However this process has now become a mere formality. The last time a monarch rejected a bill was in 1707, when Queen Anne refused to sign legislation relating to the role of the army in Scotland.

Having received the Royal Assent, the bill finally becomes an act of parliament. The whole process can take a number of months, although in emergencies it is possible for a bill to be pushed through into law in a matter of days or even hours, as was the case with the anti-terrorism legislation passed after the atrocities of 11 September 2001.

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