No country is an island: comment on the House of Commons report Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law

This chapter considers the impact of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 on the UK Parliament. Since 2005, FOI 2000 has helped make both the House of Commons and the House of Lords more open and accountable. The most high-profile effect of the law came in 2009, when it played a part in exposing the abuse of the expense allowance system. Despite the scandal, it is not clear whether FOI has transformed the culture of the two Houses. Nevertheless, the law has indirectly sparked a series of other reforms, so that FOI now sits alongside a whole range of instruments intended to make Parliament more open and accessible. The chapter first provides an overview of what FOIs consist of, their application to legislatures and Westminster specifically, before analysing the extent of the impact of FOI 2000 on the UK Parliament.

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3. Legislation and the law-making process

English Legal System ◽

10.1093/he/9780198853800.003.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 70-114

Author(s):

Steve Wilson ◽

Helen Rutherford ◽

Tony Storey ◽

Natalie Wortley ◽

Birju Kotecha

Keyword(s):

House Of Commons ◽

House Of Lords ◽

The Law ◽

The Uk ◽

Law Making

The UK Parliament makes legislation in the form of primary legislation called Acts of Parliament and grants powers to other bodies to make legislation on Parliament’s behalf, in the form of secondary legislation or delegated legislation. Parliament is composed of three bodies, the Queen in Parliament, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. A draft piece of legislation, a bill, to become an Act of Parliament must be passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and then receive the royal assent. If the House of Commons and House of Lords cannot agree on legislation this is dealt with under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. Secondary or delegated legislation is necessary for a number of reasons but is subject to controls both parliamentary and in the courts.

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3. Legislation and the law-making process

English Legal System ◽

10.1093/he/9780198808152.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Steve Wilson ◽

Helen Rutherford ◽

Tony Storey ◽

Natalie Wortley

Keyword(s):

House Of Commons ◽

House Of Lords ◽

The Law ◽

The Uk ◽

Law Making

The UK Parliament makes legislation in the form of primary legislation called Acts of Parliament and grants powers to other bodies to make legislation on Parliament’s behalf, in the form of secondary legislation or delegated legislation. Parliament is composed of three bodies, the Queen in Parliament, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. A draft piece of legislation, a bill, to become an Act of Parliament must be passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and then receive the royal assent. If the House of Commons and House of Lords cannot agree on legislation this is dealt with under the Parliament Act 1911 and 1949. Secondary or delegated legislation is necessary for a number of reasons but is subject to controls both parliamentary and in the courts.

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Reproductive Technologies and the Law:

Marriage & Family Review ◽

10.1300/j002v21n03_13 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 21 (3-4) ◽

pp. 259-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Margot E. Young

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Technologies ◽

The Law

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The Report of the Lunacy Law Committee of the House of Commons, 1878

Journal of Mental Science ◽

10.1017/s0368315x00009464 ◽

1878 ◽

Vol 24 (106) ◽

pp. 279-286

Keyword(s):

House Of Commons ◽

Good Case ◽

The Subject ◽

English Law ◽

The Law

Our readers are already fully acquainted with the evidence given before this Committee (See Jan. No., 1878, Vol. xxiii., p. 457). Its report has now been issued, and as it is very short, we reprint it in extenso. Its purport is mild, and, on the whole, those engaged in the administration of the Lunacy Laws of the kingdom, the physicians to asylums, and the British public have reason to be satisfied. The recommendations of the Committee closely coincide with the points on which, in the article referred to (p. 520), we stated there had been a fairly good case made out for alterations in the law. of the 22 recommendations made by this Committee, 17 were advocated by us. In our opinion the chief omission in the report is a recommendation that the whole mode of administering the property of the insane in England should be reformed. We showed most conclusively, from the evidence of those persons best acquainted with its working, that the English law is, in this respect, cumbrous, inefficient, and unjust. The deficiencies of the Irish and Scotch Lunacy Laws, and their administration, pointed out by us, are ignored by the Committee. The subject of Criminal Lunacy, and the clear call that has been made out for a revision of the existing statutes in regard to it, has also been left unnoticed.

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