W101 TMA 01 grade 85 PDF

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First TMA for W101 19/20. Graded 85....

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RW TMA 01

1(a) An Act of Parliament, also known as a statute, is primary legislation and is the highest source of law in the UK (The Open University (‘OU’), 2019a, 1). A Bill has three readings, a committee stage and report stage in the House of Commons and the House of Lords to receive debate, scrutiny and amendments before it receives Royal Assent and become a statute an example being the Hunting Act 2004 (OU, 2019a, 5).

1(b) Individual MPs or members of House of Lords can introduce their Private Members Bill via three ways. Each parliamentary year they can put their names in a ballot. The first seven names drawn can usually have their Bills debated. Additionally, with notice, they can introduce their Bill through a presentation of their titles, or they can use the ten-minute rule where they can introduce their Bill in a ten-minute speech (OU, 2019a, 4.3.1).

1(c) Statutory instruments (SIs) are a type of delegated legislation an example being the Education (Postgraduate Master’s Degree Loans) Regulations 2016. Courts can exercise control over such SIs through the wording of its enabling Act as this will have certain limits but if these are not followed it can come under judicial review. This may result in it being declared ultra vires meaning it is beyond its powers and therefore declared void (OU, 2019a, 6.2.2). 2(a) Judicial precedent is the idea that a previous decision will be considered by a judge in following cases (OU, 2019b, 7). Judicial precedent operates in the court system through a hierarchy. Lower courts such as the Magistrates Court are bound by decisions made by a higher court such as the Supreme Court. This is known as stare decisis meaning to stand by a decision and shows how it is a binding precedent (OU, 2019b, 7.1). 2(b) Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd [1944] KB 718 outlined three circumstances where the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) is not bound by its own decisions. Firstly, when they have made conflicting decisions, they will have to decide which to follow and which to reject. Secondly when they have been overruled by the Supreme Court

RW TMA 01

or the House of Lords and finally if it is per incuriam meaning made in error (OU, 2019b, 10.3.1).

2(c) Consistency is the most important advantage of judicial precedent. Stare decisis is valuable as it means cases will be decided similarly to previous cases, promoting fairness in the system (OU, 2019b, 7.1). However, it cannot always be consistent. The most important disadvantage is legislation can affect its application. Judges have to comply with people’s rights set out in the Human Rights Act 1998, potentially affecting whether previous decisions are followed (OU, 2019b, 10.6).

3(a) There is a need for statutory interpretation because of confusion surrounding statutes especially involving language as it can be open to interpretation since many words have different or evolving meanings. Furthermore, language can be general and unspecific even though they need to be applied to specific situations in court. This is an issue as it is unlikely all ways to apply the words were considered, highlighting the need for statutory interpretation (OU, 2019c, 5.2).

3(b) The purposive approach is where judges consider Parliaments purpose of a statute. In R (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health [2003] UKHL 13, [2003] 2 AC 687 a pressure group claimed cloned embryos are excluded from the definition of an embryo in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The courts decided this was not intended and the statute should be read in the context of when it was written (OU, 2019c, 5.4).

3(c) The presumption that statutes do not apply retrospectively means it can only apply from when it came into force, not for past instances. However, this did not apply for the Finance Act 2008 as illustrated in Huitson v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2012] EWCA Civ 898 as it stated it should be treated as if it had always had effect since people misused the original rules and so would only owe what they should have paid . (4) I prepared for this TMA by reading through the assessment guide and following the advice given. I would change my drafting and editing process in the next TMA

RW TMA 01

as I have a habit of refining my answers as I am working through an assignment. This meant I did not always get to read though my answers with fresh eyes and not have a first draft and could have affected what was changed.

Total word count: 750

References Books

RW TMA 01

The Open University (2019a) W101 Unit 4: Sources of law – legislation [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1539197 (Accessed 18 November 2019). The Open University (2019b) W101 Unit 6: Sources of law – common law [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1539322 (Accessed 18 November 2019). The Open University (2019c) W101 Unit 5: How statute is interpreted and applied [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1539228 (Accessed 18 November 2019)....