British Parliamentary Papers A Legal Perspective September 2003.
Post on 17-Dec-2015
220 Views
Preview:
Transcript
British Parliament
House of Commons – 659 Members Prime Minister is a Member of the House of
Commons Cabinet Members are MP’s
House of Lords – 689 Peers 92 hereditary peers, rest are life peers
Executive branch and legislative branch are blended
Two types of legislation
Primary legislation Statutes / Acts
Secondary legislation Statutory instruments
Equivalent to U.S. federal regulations
British Legislative Process
Bill introduced into either HouseFirst ReadingSecond ReadingCommittee StageReport StageThird ReadingSent to other house (repeat above steps)Referral back to original houseRoyal Assent More information: UK Parliament Factsheet L1
Acts of Parliament - Sources
30 – 60 acts passed per year
HMSO web site http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts.htm 1998 forward
Public General Acts and Measures
Citation of an Act
Before Jan. 1, 1963 Parliamentary session of regnal year and
chapter numberExample: Bill of Sale Act of 1854,
17 & 18 Vict., ch. 36
After Jan. 1, 1963 Year and chapter number
Example: Homelessness Act 2002, c. 7
Sources of Statutes
Halsbury’s Statutes of England and Wales LexisNexis (commercial)
Historical sources Statutes of the Realm (1235 – 1713) Statutes at Large (1714 – 1800s)
Various sets Public General Acts and Measures (1831
forward)
Sessional Papers
Command Papers
House of Commons Papers
House of Commons Bills
House of Lords Papers and Bills
Command Papers
“By Command of Her Majesty”
Royal Commission reports
Law Commission reports
Statements of government policy
Reports of tribunals or inquiry
State papers / treaties Command paper number and UK Treaty number
Citation of Command Papers
Currently in Sixth Series
First series – no abbreviation (1833 – 1869)
Second series – C. (1870 – 1899)
Third series – Cd. (1900 – 1918)
Fourth series – Cmd. (1919 – 1956)
Fifth series – Cmnd. (1956 – 1986)
Sixth series – Cm. (1986 - )
Command Paper - Example
Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, The United Kingdom in the United Nations, Cm. 5898 (Sept. 2003).
Indexes of Command Papers
Concordance of Command Papers (1833 – 1972) in J.E. Pemberton, British Official Publications (2nd ed.)
Before 1979-80, use the sessional index
After 1979-80, use the command number
House of Commons Papers
Committee Reports
Accounts and Statistics
Selected annual reports required by Parliament Example: H.C. 1992-93 371, National Audit
Office, The Administration of Student Loans
Bills
Draft versions of ActsTwo types Private Member’s bill Government bill
First volume(s) of sessional papersParliament web site http://www.parliament.uk/bills/bills.cfm
House of Commons Weekly Bulletin
House of Commons Sessional PapersContents?
1982 / 1983 – 41 volumesBills (Nos. 1 –155) – vol. 1 through 4House of Commons Papers – next 29 vols. Various reports, numbered in sequence
Command Papers – next 7 volumesEx: Vol. 34 – Cmnds. 8689, 8710-8752
Index – 1 volume Subject Index List of Documents
Parliamentary Debates
Official Report of Debates (Hansard) First Series (1803 –1820) Second Series (1820 – 1830) Third Series (1830 – 1891) Fourth Series (1892 – 1908) Fifth Series (1909 – 1981) Sixth Series (1981 – present)
Parliament web site http://www.parliament.uk/hansard/hansard.cfm (from
1988 - present)
Voting Records
Votes are called divisions Aye Lobby and Nay Lobby
Hansard’s Debates Votes located within the verbatim transcript
Standing Committee Debates
Parliament web site http://www.parliament.uk/hansard/hansard.cfm From 1997 - present
Separate print series (Princeton does not own)
Began 1919 - present
Indexes to British Parliamentary Papers
Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1801 – 1900)
Indexes of Parliamentary Papers (CD ROM) Covers House of Commons (1801 – 1944/45) and
House of Lords (1801 – 1922)
Index to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (CD-ROM) Covers 1801 – 1999 / Chadwyck Healey (Not at PU)
BOPCRIS
On the web http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/
Covers 1688 – 1995
Approx. 23,000 key documents of approx. 250,000 documents in total
Other Electronic Indexes
POLIS (1997 -) - http://www.polis.parliament.uk/ UK Parliament database, free Includes Hansard’s Debates, Written Questions and
Oral Questions
Parlianet (1979 - ) Fee based bibliographic database with some full text
UKOP (1980 - ) Fee based bibliographic database of 450,000 + British
government publications
Non-Parliamentary Documents
TSO Daily Lists http://www.tso.co.uk/bookshop/bookstore.asp
Prior to 1972 HMSO Catalogues TSO Catalogues
top related