The House of Lords reform has been discussed for a very long time, it is more than a 100 years since the parliament act was passed. In 1910 the House of Lords vent to anger when Peers refused the Liberal government’s budget. According to the House of Lords reform Timeline, the first reform happened in 1911 and 1949 where acts were introduced that significantly diminished the House of Lords powers. The House of Lords second reform bill reading was on the 9th July 2012, 100 conservative MPs were unhappy
House of lords, the second chamber in Parliament. There are currently 75 bicameral legislatures all over the world, whose constitutions were influenced by United Kingdom. In United Kingdom, House of Lords be considered as the symbol of undemocratic, there is a long discussion about reform of House of Lords. This essay will describe Hose of lords reform, past and future. Reform of the House of lords is the core issues of government’s program of constitutional change. In 1997 general election, Tony
The Different Functions of the House of Lords and House of Commons Both the House of Lords and House of Commons carry out many functions in Parliament. Each function plays a vital role, which all interconnect with each other. The House of Commons perform many more functions than the House of Lords but one wouldn’t be possible without the other, in a manner of speaking, otherwise parliament would, perhaps, make political errors. However, the main factor that contributes to their similarities
agenda. In 2010 the focus was on the House of Lords reform, however since then there has been a shift of focus to the House of Commons, though the Lords reform still remains a significant issue. A recent YouGov poll commissioned by Unlock Democracy found that ‘69% of voters support a reformed House of Lords’(2012). In 1999 the Labour government reduced the number of hereditary peers to 92. Although this may appear to be a ‘minor’ reform, it has since made the Lords more legitimate and has encouraged
Benefits of the Appointment of Members to the House of Lords There are certain benefits to having appointed members in the House of Lords. If the members were elected a great deal of money would be spent on elections and campaigning. This money could be better spent on other important issues. Elections are also very time consuming, this is why having an appointed member system is often much simpler and
The House of Lords is the upper, unelected house of the Houses of Parliament, according to the Westminster model. It consists of Life Peers who are appointed; Hereditary peers who inherited their seats; and Lords Spiritual whoa re important members of the Church of England. They have roles in scrutiny and accountability and also legislation. This essay will discuss the functions of the House of Lords and evaluate whether it should be abolished or not. This will be achieved by addressing its role
Drafting & Assent The rule of law is held supreme in the United Kingdom. In order to reinforce the rule of law, the House of Commons was deemed to be the supreme legislative body in order to uphold the rule of law. The law formulated by the parliament is known as the statutory law. The process by which statutory law is created is divided in to two procedural subdivisions, the pre-parliamentary procedure, and the parliamentary procedure . While it may appear that the pre-parliamentary procedure and
veto legislation, however there are limitations or weaknesses also like it lacks checks and balances from the House of Lords, and the disadvantage that the smaller parties have when it comes to elections, and not having a set calendar date for elections. One of the pros or strengths to having a parliamentary system is that it’s faster and easier to pass and veto legislation. Both the House of
We have discussed that the Lords are unaccountable towards constituents, but there is another important group that the Lords are bound by: political parties. If the Lords are affiliated with political parties, have whips offices, party meetings within the House (Jones and Norton, 2014: 357), and even strong voting along party lines (Norton, 2003: 20), then how are they an effective institution? The answer: distribution of party allegiance. The current Lords consists of 253 Conservative peers, 199
Judges' Need to Follow Previous Precedent The lower courts are bound by the House of Lords so they have to apply their rules as if they were applying a statute. It was decided after the case 'London street tramways v London county council (1898)' that the House of Lords would be bound by its own previous decisions. This was a case during the nineteenth century, during the Victorian times when it was important to be consistent and certain. However during the twentieth century both society
motive to check each other. There are two ways in which power can be separated; horizontally and vertically. The horizontal separation of powers is where power is divided between different institutions (the Supreme Court, the Senate and the White House). The vertical separation of powers is where power is divided between the central government and the national government. Political constitutions are incomplete contracts and therefore leave scope for abuse of power. In democracies, elections
The Legislative Acts as a Check on the Executive I am going to look at the main role of both the executive and the legislature. The above statement does not give a clear insight to what checks and balances are in place today. Policies have changed since parliament came into being and this essay will examine how and to what extent this statement is true. The executive is the administrative branch of the government; it makes laws through the means of delegated legislation and drafts bills
well under way for reform of the House of Lords, eliminating, in the first instance, peers whose place in the legislature was by inheritance. In May 2000, London elected its first mayor. In early 2003, there was the affirmation of a commitment to allow English regions to choose to elect assemblies. Then in the Cabinet reshuffle of June 2003 it was signalled that the post of Lord Chancellor would be abolished and the judicial functions of the House of Lords transferred lo a Supreme Court. Above
the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In Lord Woolf’s statement: “The separation of powers has never been part of the framework of our unwritten Constitution.” He is clearly stating that he believes that under the constitution of the United Kingdom there are important departures from the classic doctrine, and the separation of powers has never been a basis on which the people could rely upon. In contrast to this, Lord Irvine states “The British Constitution is firmly based
and later Acts which tried make changes without following the correct procedure was invalid. The modern attitude of courts is changing as could be seen in R. (on the application of Jackson) v Attorney-General concerning the Hunting Act 2004, where Lord Hope of Craighead said Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute, instead its qualified.” Its enforcement by the courts is the ultimate controlling factor on which our constitution is based.” Conclusion
solicitors, barristers, academic lawyers, which allows a full range of views on the issues of the law. The commissioners are appointed for a five-year term expect the chair whose term lasts only three years. The Law Commission can be requested by the Lord Chancellor to consider an area of law in need of reform, or it can select a range of projects after consulting representatives of academic lawyers, the Bar and the Law Society. After the projects to be looked at have been decided the Law Commission
more protestant settlement that she originally desired. There are also many debates over the role of parliament and how their personal views dictated the outcome of the settlement. In particular, historians argue about whether the Commons or the Lords shaped the religious settlement to a greater degree. It is also important to consider that Elizabeth had to take into account other factors, not just religion, when establishing the settlement. England's political, financial and international situations
to produce these first drafts, so there is a lot of pressure on time to introduce the Bill to Parliament. To become an Act of Parliament, both Houses of Parliament, in which each there is a lengthy and complex process, must pass the Bill. A Bill may start in either the House of Commons or Lords, although Finance Bills must start in the House of Commons. To become an Act of Parliament, each Bill must go through certain proceedings. The first stage is the 'First Reading' where the name
the introduction of an element of reasonableness into the ‘defence’ of mistaken belief in consent and the use of presumptions against consent and mistaken belief in consent. During the debate in Committee, the Minister of State at the Home Office, Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC, said that there were 9,008 alleged rapes recorded in 2001. In 5.8% of these cases there was a conviction. Out of the 1,267 people actually charged and tried, 41.2% were convicted. He went on to say, through comparison, that
The House of Commons ‘The House of Commons most important function is to participate in the law making process’ Give arguments for and against this view Parliament is described as the ‘legislature’; this suggests its main role is to make laws. However, the legislative procedure process is a relatively small part of its functions. The House of Commons, in particular, plays a much wider role in the British political system than the term ‘legislature’ suggests. There are many different functions