LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK. TASK II Complete the following sentences. TASK II Complete the following sentences

TASK I Use the text to provide adjectives for the following words and word combinations: process, Cabinet committee, Papers, interest groups, negotiations, Bills, wording, amendments, clauses.

 

TASK II Complete the following sentences:

1. The content and policy of the Bill….

2. The main content of the Bill….

3. Responsibility for drafting the Bill….

4. The title of the Bill….

5. The principles of the Bill….

6. A detailed clause by clause analysis of the Bill….

7. Less controversial Bills….

8. Technical legal Bills….

9. High profile political Bills….

10. Bills of major constitutional importance....

11. Major clauses of Finance Bills….

 

TASK III Describe the role of each of the following participants in the enactment of a public Bill:

A. The appropriate Cabinet committee….

B. The full Cabinet….

C. Various interest groups….

D. The various interested parties….

E. The Parliamentary Draftsmen….

F. Legislation Committee of the Cabinet….

G. The Lord Chancellor’s Office….

H. A standing committee….

I. The whole House….

J. The House of Lords....

K. The Government….

L. Both Houses….

M.A minister….

 

TASK IV a)Provide nouns for the following verbs to make up sentences; use the verbs in the passive forms: receive, invoke, reach, reintroduce, reject, approve, consider, amend, support, read out, fix, examine, scrutinise, settle.

 

b) use the following verbs in the sentences below:

received, receive , invoked , reach, reach , reintroduced , reject, reject, reject , approved, approved , considered, considered, considered, considered , amend, amended ,   support, support , read out , fixes, fix , examined , scrutinise , scrutinise , settle, settled ;

c) translate the sentences:

1. Many people argue that electoral reform is unlikely because MPs would … an electoral system which threatens their seats – the view that ‘turkeys do not vote for Christmas’.

2. A flexible constitution can be … by simple parliamentary majority.

3. A Sunday Telegraph poll found that 59 per cent of English respondents … of Scottish independence; that 68 per cent favoured an English Parliament;

4. Judges have always had power to decide what the common law is, and are now generally believed to be able to change it. They can modify or overrule even well … doctrines of the common law, if they are persuaded that those doctrines either were unjust all along, or have become incompatible with contemporary circumstances or values.

5. The principle of constitutionalism is neither a rule nor a principle of law. It is a political theory as to the type of institutional arrangements that are necessary in order to … the democratic ideal.

6. Departments are badly run, according to many ministers, and unable or unwilling to … longstanding problems.

7. Parliament reluctantly (and the Government even more reluctantly) agrees to … the Human Rights Act to permit courts to quash any part of an Act of Parliament that does not meet the Convention right requirements.

8. The common law was … a law of reason, whose most fundamental principle was the welfare of the community.

9. Ministers also were obliged to accept that cases would still proceed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and acknowledged that the UK still … itself bound by the Court’s rulings, despite grumblings from its own backbenches on this point.

10. Any reform of watchdog arrangements has to ensure continuing operational effectiveness (including adequate resourcing) without diminishing public confidence in them and in the areas of government which they ….

11. In negotiations, the Liberal Democrats may thus be prepared to … for Lords reform as a proxy for electoral reform.

12. Without a functioning appeals system, authorities could refuse to disclose information safe in the knowledge that their case would not be … for a long time.

13. In Europe certain watchdogs are … to be more like judges and courts than officials or quangos.

14. James Madison observed that 'the British Constitution … no limit whatever to the discretion of the legislature'.

15. The statement is written down by the magistrates' clerk, … to the witness in the presence of the accused, signed by the witness, and certified by the examining magistrate.

16. Parties use the internet and blogging to try and … voters, especially those under 35 whose turnout at elections is low and who prefer the new to the conventional media.

17. One interesting feature to watch, as both the judiciary and parliament become more assertive vis-`a-vis the executive, is whether they … each other in seeking extension of their powers.

18. The Government promised that properly worded petitions would … a ministerial response.

19. Laws that have been … may be (no man doubts) again repealed, and to that end also disputed against, by the authors thereof themselves.

20. The judges had no authority to … even a statute whose main object was unreasonable, because 'that were to set the judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government'.

21. Government bypasses the conventional media to … customer and client groups, such as pensioners and other benefit recipients.

22. Political events sparked off by the watchdogs’ investigations may also offer MPs enhanced opportunities to … and influence the internal workings of Government, including ministers, officials, special advisers and public appointments.

23. The Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill 2008 duly proposes to remove the discretion of the Lord Chancellor to … or seek a reconsideration of appointments below the High Court (and the Prime Minister’s entirely formal role in the most senior appointments), although it does not take forward the proposals for any parliamentary involvement in the process.

24. Mr Brown was sympathetic to the suggestions that petitions which … a certain level of support should be debated in the Commons. This view had previously been urged by David Cameron, the Leader of the Conservative Opposition.

25. The ‘‘force and effect’’ of the Thirteenth Amendment itself has been … only a few times by the Court to strike down state legislation which it … to have … servitude of persons, and the Court has not used section 1 of the Amendment against private parties.

 

* TEXT 8    PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE

 

The House of Commons enjoys certain limited privileges, as does the House of Lords. When his election is confirmed, the Speaker lays claim, in the name of the Commons of the United Kingdom, to their “ancient and undoubted rights and privileges” which include liberty of speech in all their debates, and access by the House as a whole to the Sovereign. The main object of parliamentary privilege is to protect the rights of the House and its members inside Parliament to the extent necessary to enable them to do their duty. It forms a special kind of law—its own law, interpreted and administered by itself within the walls of Parliament, but acknowledged and recognised everywhere as part of the law of the land.

 

Freedom of Speech

The most important privilege is that of freedom of speech. When a member is speaking to his fellow members, he enjoys a complete right of free speech, subject only to the rules of order administered by the Speaker. A member cannot be prosecuted for sedition, or sued for libel or slander in respect of anything said during proceedings in the House or published on its Order Paper. This means that it is possible to raise in the House questions affecting the public good which might be difficult to raise outside owing to a possible threat of the law of defamation. Such privilege is not a personal favour to the individual member, but a necessary protection and a guarantee that he should be able to defend to the full the interests of the electors. Thus the-privilege of members is to be regarded as the privilege of every citizen.

 

Breach of Privilege

Parliament has the right to punish anybody, either inside or outside the House, who is guilty of a breach of privilege—that is, of offending against the rights of the House. If an alleged breach occurs, the matter may be raised in the House by any member; if this is done at the earliest opportunity it may take precedence over all other business. The Speaker is then asked to consider whether the matter raised is serious enough to be given precedence over the planned business. If, after taking 24 hours to consider the precedents, he decides that it is, then no other business can be transacted until the House has either dealt with the alleged breach itself, or referred it to the Committee of Privileges, which investigates the matter and reports to the House after due inquiry both into the facts and into the law of privilege applicable to them. If on being summoned an offender admits the offence, but offers a full apology, the committee not infrequently recommends that it be accepted. The House then considers the committee's report and decides whether or not the offender should be punished.

Punishment for Contempt

Parliament claims the right to punish not only breaches of its privileges, but “contempt”, which is any offence or libel against its dignity or authority. An offender may be detained within the precincts of the House, though this punishment has not been employed since 1880. Nowadays the House would probably direct offenders to be reprimanded. An offender who is not a member of the House is brought to the Bar by the Serjeant at Arms, and is there reprimanded by the Speaker in the name, and by the authority, of the House. If the offender is a member, he receives the Speaker's admonition or reprimand standing in his place. An offending member may also be suspended or, in extreme cases, expelled from the House. Offenders, other than members, may be ordered to attend at the Bar of the House; all may be heard in extenuation of their offences, or in mitigation of their punishment, before the House decides what action to take.

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