Legislating for Wales , livre ebook

University of Wales Press - Daniel Greenberg , Thomas Watkin

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

145 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Prior to the start of the twenty-first century, laws were made for Wales by the Parliament at Westminster. Devolution, and the creation of the National Assembly, has given Wales another legislature that does not replace the UK Parliament but shares in its law-making activity regarding certain subjects. This book considers how legislation is made for Wales; its primary focus is law-making by the National Assembly and the Welsh Government, but the role of Westminster and Whitehall is also observed. The purpose of this volume is to raise a critical awareness of what is involved in sound law-making – it is intended not only for those who prepare and make legislation within the institutions of government, but equally also for the citizens whose lives are affected by that legislation, and who have an interest in the quality of the laws that govern them and the society in which they live. This is the first such work to consider these issues from a Welsh perspective.

Series Preface
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Table of Cases
Table of Assembly Measures
Table of Assembly Acts
Table of Assembly Bills
Table of United Kingdom Acts
Table of Statutory Instruments
Table of Standing Orders of the National Assembly for Wales
1. Legislation and Legislatures
2. From Ideas to Policy
3. From Policy to Proposal
4. The National Assembly for Wales: Competence and Constraints
5. People and Preparation
6. From Proposals to Provisions
7. Process and Promulgation
8. Implementation and Interpretation
9. Other Legislatures and Their Legislative Processes
Conclusion
Select Bibliography
Index

Sujets

Droit et juridique

Law

Wales

Informations

Publié par	University of Wales Press
Date de parution	01 septembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781786833020
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,3150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE PUBLIC LAW OF WALES
Legislating for Wales
THE PUBLIC LAW OF WALES
Legislating for Wales
Thomas Glyn Watkin with Daniel Greenberg -->

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2018
© Thomas Glyn Watkin and Daniel Greenberg, 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
The content of this publication does not constitute legal or other professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date, any reliance on the content is solely at the user s own risk.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-300-6
eISBN 978-1-78683-302-0
The right of Thomas Glyn Watkin and Daniel Greenberg to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Series Preface
F or several centuries after the union of the two countries under the Tudors, the laws which applied in England and the laws which applied in Wales were almost exactly identical. Although administered differently in Wales by the courts of Great Session, the laws were not different. Only in the nineteenth century, barely half a century after the abolition of the Great Sessions in 1830, did laws begin to be made for Wales which did not apply in neighbouring England. The number of such laws however remained small when compared with those which were common to both countries. England and Wales was a single law district with a single law - the law of England and Wales, which was in reality English law.
Devolution has changed that situation significantly. The creation of the National Assembly for Wales and its subsequent acquisition of primary law-making powers has meant that there is now a growing number of differences between the laws which apply in Wales and those which apply in England. Although in the majority of cases, the laws of the two countries remain the same, there is an increasing divergence in the rules relating to those matters which have been devolved. In truth, there are now three bodies of law in England and Wales: one which applies only in Wales; a second which applies only in England, and a third which applies in both countries. Whenever the National Assembly legislates for Wales or the United Kingdom Parliament legislates only for England, the divergence increases. As that divergence increases, so does the importance that lawyers, law students and the public should be able to inform themselves of what the law is in Wales. People need to know the laws which govern their lives from the perspective of the society in which they live. In both countries, lawyers need to know what the law is on either side of the border.
The temptation has been to present the law which applies in Wales in terms of the law which applies in England, while merely noting the differences. As divergence increases, that approach becomes not merely unhelpful from a Welsh perspective, but unacceptable. The purpose of this series therefore is to present to the professions and to the public an account of the law as it applies in Wales in the areas where there is now divergence, and in so doing to both redress the deficit and provide the foundation for a legal literature to serve the distinct needs of Wales.
Thomas Glyn Watkin
Contents
Series Preface
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Table of Cases
Assembly Standing Orders
Table of Assembly Measures
Table of Assembly Acts
Table of Assembly Bills
Table of United Kingdom Acts
Table of Statutory Instruments
1 Legislation and Legislatures
Legislation: the word and its meaning
Implications of these meanings
The phases of legislation as an activity
Terminology
The legislative initiative
The authority to enact: deliberation and decision-making
The executive branch of government
The government of the United Kingdom
The history of Welsh devolution
The Welsh Government and the Welsh Ministers
The Civil Service and the Assembly Commission
The challenge of legislating for Wales
2 From Ideas to Policy
Legislation, government and the rule of law
The need for legislation
Ideas for legislation
Properly thought through policy
Policy: the word, its meaning and the implications
The action and its consequences
Efficacy and impact
Answering the questions: evidence and analysis
The case for change
Generating options
The preferred option
3 From Policy to Proposal
The changes to the law that can be made
Freedom and legislation
Freedom or liberty as the default position
The principle of proportionality
Legal duties
Enforcing legal duties and claim rights
Methods of enforcement
Fundamental legal concepts: the static set
The concept of a legal power
Fundamental legal concepts: the dynamic set
Classifications of legislation
Choices of legislature and of kinds of legislation
4 The National Assembly for Wales: Competence and Constraints
Territorial limitations
Subject-matter competence
Enforcement
Incidental and consequential provisions
General restrictions
Extent
Compatibility with EU law and human rights
Challenges to legislative competence
Secretary of State intervention
5 People and Preparation
The bill team: its composition and functions
Persons with an interest in legislation
Preparation of instructions
The structure of a legislative proposal
Responding constructively to drafts
The content of a legislative provision
6 From Proposals to Provisions
Long title and short title
The bill s provisions
Enforcement and implementation
Multi-purpose legislation
Overview provisions
Purpose provisions
Interpretation
Provisions amending other legislation
Transitional and saving provisions
Commencement or coming into force
Extent
7 Process and Promulgation
The introductory phase
The deliberative phase
The decision-making phase
Special procedures
8 Implementation and Interpretation
Commencement or coming into force
Subordinate legislation
Judicial interpretation
9 Other Legislatures and Their Legislative Processes
Legislative process in the Westminster Parliament
European Union legislation
Notes
Afterword
Select Bibliography
Foreword
I t is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome the fourth in this series of books which aims to present an account of the law of Wales in such a manner that not only treats Welsh law as a distinctive legal regime (distinct from a sub-species of English law), but which seeks also to meet the needs of all who live in Wales.
As the law of Wales will be very largely made by the legislature, it is essential that the legislative process is properly understood. There are some who share the view often attributed to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck that laws are like sausages; it is best not to see how they are made. Whether such a view is properly attributed to Bismarck is a subject of debate, but what is beyond debate is that the process of law-making must be properly understood. That is because a clear exposition of the process is essential in ensuring that it is a proper one. And a proper process is, in any age, but particularly in an age of populism, essential to the maintenance of democracy.
This work admirably sets out the entirety of the legislative process in Wales in a way that can be easily and readily understood not only by lawyers, but by all those interested in our democracy. It is comprehensive in its coverage as well as in its deep scholarship. For example, the chapter on competence and constraints of the National Assembly (chapter four) is an excellent summary of the difference between the UK Parliament and the subordinate parliaments in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales; as well as providing a detailed description of the limitations on the competence of the National Assembly.
Of particular interest are the innovative features that the National Assembly has adopted. Two examples are the drafting of legislation bilingually (considered in chapter eight) and the Committee stages of Welsh legislation (described in chapter seven).
I do not think it possible to over-emphasise the advantages of legislating in a proper bilingual manner as opposed to providing the translation of a text drafted monolingually and, when finalised, translated into a second language. In bilingual drafting, the right text for each language is considered as the draft progresses, and both texts can be changed to get the correct meaning. As the authors rightly stress, this has the added advantage of eliminating the risk of ambiguity. It is a notable achievement by the National Assembly to have adopted this progressive and modern approach, which gives true equality to the languages used in Wales.
The second example of innovation is the Subject Committee stage of considering Bills. This stage can be applied to Welsh legislation when there is a need for detailed expertise in the subject matter of the legislation. The ability of a committee to call evidence to assist it in scrutinising the broad policy proposals is of inestimable advantage, particularly for a small nation where it is not realisti