Making New Laws: Bills and Acts

The functions of Parliament are: making laws; providing money for the government through taxation; examining government policy, administration and spending; debating political questions.

Every year Parliament passes about a hundred laws directly, by making Acts of Parliament. Because this can be a long process, Parliament sometimes passes a very general law and leaves a minister to fill in the details. In this way, it indirectly passes about 2, 000 additional rules and regulations.

No new law can be passed unless it has completed a number of stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The monarch also has to give a Bill the Royal Assent, which is now just a formality. Since 1707 no sovereign has refused a Bill. Whilst a law is still going through Parliament it is called a Bill. There are two main types of Bills - Public Bills which deal with matters of public importance and Private Bills which deal with local matters and individuals.

Public and Private Bills are passed through Parliament in much the same way. When a Bill is introduced in the House of Commons, it receives a formal first reading. It is then printed and read a second time, when it is debated but not

amended. After the second reading the Bill is referred to a committee, either a special committee made up of certain members of the House, or to the House itself as a committee. Here it is'discussed in detail and amended, if necessary. The Bill is then presented for a third reading and is debated. If the Bill is passed by the Commons it goes to the Lords, and provided it is not rejected by them, it goes through the same procedure as in the Commons. After receiving the Royal Assent the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament. In order to be enforced, it must be published in Statute form, becoming a part of Statute Law., The power of the Lords to reject a Bill has been severely curtailed. A money Bill must be passed by the Lords without amendment within a month of being presented in the House. The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it.

TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.

- абсолютное большинство;

- отклонить законопроект;

- выдвинуть законопроект;

- налогообложение;

- внести поправку в законопроект;

- обсуждать политические вопросы; / - королевская санкция;

* - ассигновать деньги для нужд правительства;

- принять закон;

- обсуждать законопроект;

- подробно обсудить;

- направить законопроект на рассмотрение;

- отложить принятие законопроекта.

TASK 4. Explain the meanings of the folio-wing expressions from the text.

' Statute Law;

- to be published in Statute form;

- to receive a formal reading;

- to enforce an Act of Parliament;

- to be severely curtailed;

- a money Bill.

TASK 5. Analyze the chart. Give Russian equivalents for the words in bold type. How Bills Go through Parliament

f First Reading \

Publication is

announced Second Reading General debate on

principles

Committee Stage

Detailed discussion

in committee

Report Stage

Committee reports to

the House Third Reading Formal review of contents of the Bill.

/^ If the Bill has Л^ been introduced in the

Commons, it is then reviewed in the Lords Some Bills start in the

Lords and then go to the Commons

The Lords have less

formal methods of

debating Bills They

can delay but not stop

v a Bill i

f The Bill is ^

signed by the Queen and becomes

law

The Royal Assent

is still read out in

Parliament in

Norman-French

\, " La reyne le veult'V

TASK 6. Answer the questions.

1. What is the difference between a Bill and an Act of Parliament?

2. What are the two types of Bills? Discuss the difference between them.

3. How many readings should a Bill receive to become an Act?

4. What is the role of the House of Lords in law-making process?

5. Which of the two Houses of Parliament has more power?

6. How does a Bill go through Parliament? How efficient and democratic is this process, in your opinion?

TASK 7. Read the text.

The Executive

The executive can be divided into the three parts.

The Privy Council: The Privy Council developed from a small group of royal advisers at court into the chief source of executive authority. But its position was weakened in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as more of its functions were transferred to a developing parliamentary Cabinet.

Today its main role is to advise the monarch on a range of matters, like the resolution of constitutional issues and the approval of Orders in Council, such as the granting of Royal Charters to public bodies. The most important task of the Privy Council today is performed by its Judicial Committee. This serves as the final court of appeal from those dependencies and Commonwealth countries which have retained this avenue of appeal. It may also be used as an arbiter for a wide range of courts and committees in Britain and overseas, and its rulings can be influential.

The office of Privy Councillor is an honorary one, conferred, for example, on former Prime Ministers.

The Ministry: The Ministry is the government of the moment. The head of the Ministry is the Prime Minister. The functions of the Prime Minister are: leading the majority party; running the Government; appointing Cabinet Ministers and other ministers; representing the nation in political matters.

Upon accepting office the Prime Minister must form a government, that is, select a cabinet and ministry from among the Members of Parliament of his own party. The Cabinet constitutes the centre of the government and is composed of about 20 of the most important ministers. All major decisions of the Government are made by the Cabinet, and therefore it is the Cabinet which forms Government policy. Decisions made by the Cabinet must be unanimous, i It makes its decisions collectively and is collectively responsible to Parliament.

After the Prime Minister has formed his cabinet, he selects the rest of his ministry. Most of these ministers are the political heads of Government Departments and are members of one of the Houses.

Government Departments: Government departments are responsible for implementing Government policy. Each department is headed by two people: a political head who is usually the minister, and an administrative head from the Civil Service, called a permanent secretary. They are responsible for a permanent staff which is part of the Civil Service. There are many such departments, for example the Home Office, the Department of Education, the Ministry of Defence, etc. The most important department is the Treasury, and the Prime Minister is usually its political head. It is the Department which controls the economy of the nation.

As well as government departments there are government agencies formed to operate public services, e.g., the Post Office, British Rail, etc. Most of these agencies are subject to the control of one of the government departments.

V

TASK 8. Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions.

- The Privy Council;

- Royal Charters;

- Commonwealth;

4-6858

- The Ministry;

- Government Departments;

- Civil Service;

- The Home (Foreign) Office;

- The Treasury.

*TASK 9. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.

- вступать в должность;

- сформировать правительство;

- круг вопросов;

- почетная должность;

- единогласное решение;

- осуществлять политику правительства;

- подлежать контролю. 4

TASK 10. Answer the questions.

1. What are the functions of:

a) Parliament;

b) the Prime Minister;

c) the Privy Council;

d) the Cabinet;

e) the Government Departments?

2. Who does the Cabinet consist of?

3. What is " collective responsibility"?

4. Who is each department headed by? What are their functions?

5. What is a government agency?

TASK 11. Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.

1. What is the difference between the Constitutions of the United Kingdom and the United States? 2. If the Prime Minister wants to introduce a new law, what are the functions of the following: the Cabinet; the House of Commons; the House of Lords; the Queen? 3. What are the features of the British Constitution which you consider important? Compare them with the Constitution of your own country.

TASK 12. Write a description of the constitutional system of your own country, using the texts above as a model.

Unit Ml A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

TASK I. Do you know? Work т groups and give answers to the following questions.

1. What are the main political parties in Great Britain? What is the difference between them?

2. What kind of people do you think might stand for Parliament in Great Britain?

TASK 2. Read the text.

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