Influences on law making

Political Influences

When a government is formed, it has a programme of reforms it wishes to carry out set out in its party manifesto. At the start of each parliamentary session, the government announces in the King’s Speech what particular laws it intends introducing during that session - government policy.

Individual MPs who aren’t part of government may also have the opportunity to influence legislation by proposing Private Members’ Bills.

Example of political influences

Human Rights Act 1998 - fulfilled Labour manifesto commitment to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law.

Public opinion and the media

Where there is strong public opinion about a change to the law, the Government may bow to such opinion. Public opinion is often expressed via the media on TV, newspapers, the internet etc. The media can add to the weight of public opinion by offering free press and increasing public awareness.

Example of public opinion and the media

Voyeurism Act 2019 - made upskirting a specific offence as a result of a high profile case in the media which caused public outrage.

Pressure groups and lobbyists

Pressure group is an organisation formed to bring their issues to the attention of the public and government. Pressure groups may seek to exert influence by:

• Lobbying individual MPs to support their cause

• Direct action e.g strikes/demonstrations

• Petitions

• Media & advertising to attract public sympathy

Example of pressure groups and lobbyists

Stonewall’s campaign for LGBTQ rights led to the repeal of s.28 Local Government Act 1988 which previously banned promotion of LGBTQ relationships in school.

Law Commission

The role of the Law Commission is to systematically keep all English law under review and recommend reform where it is needed. It is an independent body created by the Law Commissions Act 1965. Its aim is to ensure that the law is fair, modern, simple and cost effective. As well as proposing new laws, the Law Commission works to modernise and simplify the law by suggesting consolidation of existing law and repeal of unnecessary or outdated law.

Consolidation (Law Commission)

This means drawing together law that is contained in several Acts of Parliament into one Act. This is needed because in some areas of law there are a number of statutes, each of which sets out a small part of the total law. Consolidation enables the law to be made more coherent and accessible, e.g. the Sentencing Act 2020 drew together 65 different Acts of Parliament into one single “Sentencing Code”.

Repeal (Law Commission)

This means removing outdated or obsolete Acts of Parliament. Only Parliament can repeal an Act, but the Law Commission can advise about which Acts it thinks should be repealed – such as the Statute of Marlborough 1267 passed during the reign of Henry III! In its 2015 Statute Law (Repeals) Report, the Law Commission proposed the repeal of over 200 outdated Acts.

Codification (Law Commission)

Codification brings together all the law on one topic (statute and case law) into one complete code of law to make the law simpler and easier

to find. In 1985 the Law Commission published a draft criminal code which included all the main general principles of criminal law. However, it has never been implemented and the Law Commission stated in 2008 that in future it would concentrate on smaller areas, as there is more chance the government

will then adopt their recommendations.

How the Law Commission works (1-2)

1. Topics may be referred by the Lord Chancellor on behalf of the government or the Law Commission may itself select areas in need of reform (taking into account its relative importance, suitability and resources needed).

2. Law Commission researches the area of law to identify its problems. It may approach specialists in the area and/or look at how other legal systems deal with similar problems.

How the Law Commission works (3-4)

3. A consultation paper is published seeking views on possible ideas for reform. The paper will set out in detail the existing law and its problems, giving arguments for and against the possible solutions and inviting comments. The paper is circulated widely to all

interested parties.

4. The Law Commission analyses the responses to the consultation which may help to develop and refine its thinking. A report is presented giving its final recommendations and proposals for reform. There will often be a draft Bill attached to the report.

Recent success of the Law Commission

Coroners and Justice Act 2009, which abolished the defence to murder of provocation and replaced it with the defence of loss of control.