Public Law
Introduction to Public Law
Public law is made up of constitutional law, administrative law, civil liberties and human
rights, as well as non-legal rules and practices such as conventions and prerogative
powers, and political understandings and practices.
● Constitutional law is the body of rules, doctrines and practices that govern the
operation of political communities
● Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative
agencies of the government
● Civil liberties are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot
abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation, without due process
Public law pulls in the opposite direction to other legal subjects, most subjects focus on
‘black letter’ law, whereas public law has significant political content, sometimes political
rules have primacy over legal rules.
What is a constitution?
The set of rules and practices that regulates relations:
● Between the main branches of state
○ Rules governing interactions
● Between the state and the individual
Key institutions in the UK:
● Legislature
○ Parliament
○ Devolved legislatures
● Judiciary
● Executive
○ Government
○ Devolved governments, local councils
○ Crown (sometimes meaning government, sometimes monarchy)
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Parliament
Democracy means rule by the people, derives from Greek demos (people) and kratein
(power).
● Direct democracy - voters participate directly in decision making
● Representative democracy - voters participate in elections to choose those who
will make decisions
UK democracy is sometimes described as an ‘elective dictatorship’ (Lord Hailsham)
● Parliamentary sovereignty coupled with fusion of executive and legislature
The UK system runs on the majoritarian system
● Govt by the largest minority group of those who vote
● Until 2010, no British Government has been elected with a bare majority of votes
cast since 1945
● Traditional two party system has become fragmented
Structure and functions of Parliament
Parliament is bicameral, there are 2 houses
● House of Commons
● House of Lords
‘The Queen in Parliament makes law’
● Law making requires the assent of HC, HL, and the Queen
The functions of parliament are as follows:
● Representation
○ Represent the will of the people/constituents
● Legislative
○ Make and change laws
● Scrutiny
○ Check and challenge the work of the government, especially through select
Committees
● Debating/discursive
● Financial
○ Check and approve Government spending
● Recruitment
● Legitimation function
○ Of Government decision making, govt decides things, Parliament acts as a
rubber stamp
The voting system in the UK is the first past the post system, the candidate with the most
votes wins, there are 650 single seat constituencies.
● The advantages are that it is a simple, certain and stable system
● However, it is less responsive, especially to minority viewpoints
Some forms of proportional representation are sometimes proposed in order to combat
this, however the suggestion was rejected in 2011
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General elections and resignations
Since the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, General Elections are held on a fixed
timetable every 5 years
● Originally designed to create stability for Conservative-Lib Dem coalition
2010-2015
● General elections can be triggered early by a vote of no-confidence in the
Government, or by a vote of two-thirds of the Commons
Resignations from the HC, you have to apply to either the offices of Chiltern Hundreds or
the Steward of Northstead, as you cannot hold these positions in the HC.
The Recall of MPs Act 2015 - if an MP has committed an offence or misbehaved in
Parliament or in relation to expenses, a petition of at least 10% of the voters in the
constituency may trigger a by-election (1st example - Ian Paisley Jr in Sept 2018 –
unsuccessful).
Structure of House of Commons
● Speaker (chairs debates)
● Governing Party - majority of the commons
○ Prime minister
○ Ministers
○ Whips
○ Backbenchers
● Opposition Parties
○ Leader of the opposition
○ Shadow Ministers
○ Whips
○ Backbenchers
Structure of the House of Lords
● 815 members
● 84% life peers
● 92 hereditary peers
● 26 CoE bishops and archbishops
● 217 female peers (26%)
● 44 BME peers (5.4%)
The House of Lords is composed in a very similar way to the HC. there is a Governing
party with ministers, whips and backbenchers; an opposition party with shadow
spokespeople and whips; crossbenchers; and bishops.
● A significant amount of the work in the HL is scrutiny - they check and scrutinise
the work of the government through Parliamentary questions
● They also work in Legislation
● Debating
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Lords Reform
● Lords Reform is a perennial topic, lots of old, unimplemented reports
● Royal Commission on House of Lords Reform 2000
○ Proposed reduction to 550 members
○ Independent Appointment Commission
○ Removal of hereditaries
○ A portion of members to be elected by proportional representation
● Coalition government 2010-15 Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform
○ Allowing members to resign from the house and to be suspended or
expelled for misbehaviour
● Burns Report (2017)
○ Recommended reduction in numbers and 15 year terms
The committee system plays an important role in the legislative process, where detailed
scrutiny of Bills is done. Also increasingly important for scrutiny of Govt policy and
legislation
● Each Govt department has a corresponding Departmental Select Committee drawn
from members of the Commons
Committees of the HL then to be thematic and/or specialist.
The legislative process
There are different types of legislation:
● Public Bills
○ Bills that are promoted and sponsored by Parliament
● Private members Bills
○ Written by individual MPs/backbenchers
○ Not sponsored by Parliament
● Private Bills
○ Only affect specific people
● Delegated legislation
○ Anything that isn’t an act of parliament
○ Can give a govt. Minister of a specific organisation the power to make laws
