British Parliamentary Papers A Legal Perspective September 2003.

British Parliamentary Papers

A Legal Perspective

September 2003

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

US – UK Comparison

House of Commons Sessional Papers

Hansards

Halsbury’s

Public General Acts and Measures

House of Commons Weekly Bulletin

Serial Set

Congressional Record

U.S.C.A.

Statutes at Large

Thomas at loc.gov