Пост лорда-канцлера просуществовал всего 1400 лет?

В британском кабинете министров произошло формальное разделение властей. Важнейшее решение касается упразднения архаичной должности лорда-канцлера, сочетавшей законодательные, исполнительные и судебные полномочия. Должность лорда-канцлера вообще ликвидируется. Как считает газета Таймс, сегодня важно даже не то, кто получил портфели министров и кто с ними расстался, а то, что меняется сам механизм работы правительства.

«Отголоски нынешней кадровой перетряски будут звучать и после того, как все забудут имена ушедших в отставку», - пишет Таймс. Это старейший пост в британском правительстве: он был создан почти 1400 лет назад – первый лорд-канцлер Эгмендас был назначен в далеком 605 году. Эта должность была ключевой в правительстве и сулила богатство и процветание. И вот Блэр поставил точку на 1400-летней истории.

Отныне широчайшие полномочия этой должности будут разделены. Прежде всего, это касается управления судебной системой. Часть бывших полномочий лорда-канцлера в судебной сфере перейдет в ведение нового министерства юстиции, другая часть будет передана новому департаменту конституционных дел. Будет создан также Верховный суд, и Великобритания, таким образом, перестанет быть единственной в мире страной, где старшие судьи одновременно являются представителями законодательной власти.

CREATIVE WRITING Parliamentary Reform: A Solution to Democracy? Write an essay on one of the assigned topics: The second chamber needs to be abolished and replaced with a democratically elected body. Britain is not ready for true democracy. It still wants and needs a privileged elite to tell the masses what and how to think. A non-elected upper house is essential to ensure that a parliamentary majority does not enable the Prime Minister to rule as a virtual dictator. Nowadays, because Britain has become a Continental-style democracy, the House of Commons is more a docile pet of the government than a harsh watchdog of the country’s freedom.

UNIT 3. LAW-MAKING PROCESS – PARLIAMENT IN ACTION

Why bring Laws in?

It’s common knowledge that there is no written constitution in Great Britain, and the laws of the country are not listed within a single document. That is why law-making has special significance, as each new Act of Parliament represents a new page in the country’s constitution.

The law undergoes constant reform in the courts as established principles are interpreted, clarified or reapplied to meet new circumstances. Occasionally obsolete laws become outdated, and pressure arises on the Government to update the law. The Government may also wish to introduce new laws in line with its policies. During the late 1990s, for example, a series of Acts was passed to comply with the Labour Government’s programme for constitutional reform.

Sometimes new laws are needed to ensure that the UK complies with International or European Law. The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are recent examples of this.

In the UK laws made by Parliament are known as Statute Laws. Every year Parliament passes about 100 laws directly by making Acts of Parliament. Within the same period, more than 3000 Statutory Instruments containing many rules and regulations are made indirectly, on Parliament’s authority. Parliament sometimes passes a very general law and leaves the relevant minister to fill in the details. The minister is often in the best position to do this, particularly where circumstances are changing fairly frequently. By having the freedom to make some rules, the minister is able to adapt to changing circumstances. Using the powers given to them by Parliament, ministers, in effect, become lawmakers themselves.

The essence of law-making in Parliament is that decisions are taken on behalf of the people. Elected representatives sit in the House of Commons, while the House of Lords contains a variety of experts from all walks of life who provide the benefit of their experience.

No new law can be made by Parliament unless it has completed a number of stages in both Houses of Parliament and received the Royal Assent. Only after the Royal Assent does it become a new law or Act of Parliament. Before this, while it is still journeying through Parliament, it is called a Bill.

TASK 1. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following key words and expressions:

1. статутное право

2. акт делегированного законодательства

3. суть законотворческого процесса

4. соответствовать международному праву

5. соответствовать политике правительства

6. пройти несколько стадий

7. вносить на рассмотрение законопроект

8. получить Королевскую Санкцию

9. принимать решения от имени народа

10. подвергнуться преобразованиям

11. привести закон в соответствие с требованиями современности

TASK 2. Answer the following questions:

1. How is the UK constitution being developed through making new laws?

2. What circumstances initiate new legislation?

3. What are the ways of making a new law?

4. What is the essence of law-making in Parliament?

TASK 3. Read the texts below and say which of them you find most interesting and why.

Preparatory Stages of a Government Bill

Before Bill is introduced into Parliament, consultations take place with those who are likely to be affected by the Bill. These interested parties are professional bodies, voluntary organisations and pressure groups. The consultation stage may be organized by the Government Department sponsoring the Bill. Within a Department, both the ministers and permanent officials, known as civil servants, are involved in the consultation process.

Sometimes the Government sets out its ideas for a Bill in a discussion document or consultation paper known as a Green Paper which outlines government proposals that are still taking shape and seeks comments from the public. After this discussion stage, the Department may produce firm proposals in a White Paper. This will form the basis of the Bill to be introduced into Parliament. Not all Bills are initiated through Green Papers and White Papers. Discussions take place before most Bills are introduced into Parliament but these written documents are not always circulated to outside organisations.

The process of putting the terms of a Bill down on paper is known as drafting. A small number of lawyers are specially trained for this work. The Bill has to be exact and must not leave any loopholes. The parliamentary Draftsmen therefore have to make sure that a particular sentence cannot be taken to mean more than one thing unlike the following sentence, taken from an American law:

“No one shall carry any dangerous weapon upon the public

highway, except for the purpose of killing a noxious animal

or a policeman in the execution of his duty.”

This sentence, as it is written, is ambiguous for it seems to suggest that people are allowed to kill policemen as well as animals which, of course, is not what is intended.

Delegated Legislation

In order to reduce pressure on parliamentary time, Acts of Parliament often give government ministers or other authorities the power to regulate administrative details by means of ‘delegated’ or secondary legislation. This mostly takes the form of Orders in Council, Regulations and Rules known as Statutory Instruments (SIs). These are as much the law of the land as are Acts of Parliament. SIs are normally drafted by the legal department of the ministry concerned and may be subject, when in draft, to consultations with interested parties. To minimise any risk that delegating powers to the executive might undermine the authority of Parliament, such powers are normally only delegated to authorities directly accountable to Parliament. Parliament always has the right to consider whether the SIs are made in accordance with the powers that that it delegated.

It’s Interesting to Know Pressure groups are organisations which aim to influence Parliament and government in making and implementing new law. They have become much more important in politics in recent years, as many people are no longer involved in the traditional political parties but work instead with single-issue groups. There is a huge range of pressure groups, campaigning on issues including education, the environment, equality for ethnic minorities, health, housing, rural affairs and welfare rights. Along with global campaigns affecting the life of the whole nation, there are also such pressure groups as a “Campaign to Get British People to Walk on the Left” – aimed at getting the British people to walk on the left-hand side of a pavement/escalator/pedestrian area. Here is what they claim: “Why the left? – (1) All cars in the UK drive on the left, so the mentality is already programmed into peoples’ psyche. (2) Londoners already walk on the left on the Underground escalators and tunnels. (3) If everyone walked on the left, we wouldn’t have to suddenly dodge other pedestrians who get in our way. (4) The world would be a more civilized place if we did so!” Some pressure groups work though radical protest; others seek influence in more traditional ways, for example by encouraging people to write to their MPs or petition the government.

TASK 4. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following key words and expressions:

1. государственный служащий

2. министерство / правительственное ведомство

3. правительственный декрет

4. составители парламентских законопроектов

5. группа, оказывающая влияние на политику, законодательство, общественное мнение

6. общественные или благотворительные организации

7. быть подотчетным Парламенту

8. разослать (распространить) документ

9. оставлять «белые пятна / лазейки» в законодательстве

TASK 5. Answer the following questions:

1. What bodies are involved in the constitution stage?

2. What is the difference between Green Papers and White Papers?

3. What is the work of Parliamentary Draftsmen aimed at?

4. Why does Parliament delegate some powers to the executive?

TASK 6. Read the text below and give a brief account of each stage of the law-making process.

Stages of a Government Bill

A Government Bill has to pass through several stages in Parliament, each having a clear purpose. Most stages are known as ‘readings’ because in the days before printing, the only way in which Members could find out what a Bill said was by having the contents read out in each Chamber.

The House of Commons

First reading (Introducing a Bill)

The First Reading is a way of letting Members know that a Bill is coming up for discussion. There is no vote on the First Reading, so a Bill automatically goes through that stage. Then it is printed so that Members have a chance to read it and decide what they think about it. Explanatory notes are often published to accompany the Bill.

Second Reading (Explaining the purpose of the Bill)

This is an important stage of a Bill, when its main purpose is explained and general questions answered by the Minister in charge.

Committee Stage (Looking at the details)

It is during the Committee Stage that MPs are, for the first time, allowed to examine all the detail of a Bill and suggest some changes or amendments to it. Most government Bills are considered by small committees of between 15 and 50 MPs known as Standing Committees. At least one Minister from the Government Department responsible for the Bill is on the committee, as is a front-bench spokesperson from each of the main opposition parties. A separate committee is formed for the consideration of each Bill.

There are several reasons why Bills have to be sent to committees. First of all, 15 to 50 is a better number than 659 for discussing the details of a Bill. The committee members can sit in a smaller room which provides a better atmosphere for discussion than the large House of Commons Chamber. Debates in the Chamber are governed by a fairly strict set of rules. Many debates are programmed to last only a few hours because the House is so short of time that it cannot afford to allow discussion on an individual Bill are to be properly examined. Committee proceedings are altogether more flexible than debates in the House of Commons.

Often a Bill which has constitutional significance or requires a very rapid passage will be heard by a Committee of the whole House, i.e. in the Chamber, so that all Members can contribute. Sometimes a suggested amendment to a Bill does not get as far as a vote. It may instead be withdrawn by a Member who is either satisfied that he or she has drawn the problem to the attention of the Minister or because the Member realizes that he or she cannot win the vote.

Report Stage (Further consideration and changes by the whole House)

After the Committee Stage, the whole House of Commons has to be told what changes have been instituted since only a small number of Members are involved in the committee meetings. If there have been amendments, the Bill will be reprinted before the Report Stage so that Members could see how the changes fit into the Bill as a whole. MPs can suggest further changes if they want to. The report Stage is not necessary if the Bill has been considered by a Committee of the Whole House.

Third Reading (Overall examination of the Bill)

At this stage the House of Commons is given a chance to look again at the Bill as a whole, with all its amendments, and decide whether it should go any further. The Bill cannot be changed substantially at this stage – it is either accepted or rejected. Once a Bill has passed its Third reading in the Commons, it is forwarded to the House of Lords for further consideration.

The House of Lords

To spread legislative workload more evenly between the two Houses a sizeable proportion of all Bills begins in the House of Lords. By convention the Lords do not reject legislation on matters which were in the Government’s manifesto (election pledge). The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it. ^

The stages of a Bill in the House of Lords are pretty much the same as those in the House of Commons. At the Committee stage instead of going to a small committee for a detailed examination Bills usually go to a Committee of the Whole House, and any Lord who is interested can contribute. The detailed deliberation of a Bill provides a sort of a safety net in case there is a problem which nobody has spotted before.

Any changes made to a Bill in the House of Lords have to be considered in the House of Commons, for which purpose they are taken back to the lower chamber. The Commons normally accept most of the Lords’ amendments which are non-controversial. At times a Bill can go to and fro for a while, a process known as ‘ping-pong’, until an agreement can be reached. If the two Houses are unable to compromise, the Commons will eventually get its way by reintroducing the Bill the following year.

The Royal Assent

Once both Houses of Parliament have passed a Bill, it has to go to the Queen for the Royal Assent. Had she been living 500 years ago, Queen Elisabeth II would have signed all Bills herself. She would also have gone in person to the House of Lords to announce in French whether she agreed to a Bill (‘La Reyne le veult’) or wished to reject it. (‘Le Reyne s’avisera’). No monarchs since the sixteenth century have signed Bills themselves. Queen Anne, whose reign was notable for the emergence of the two-party political system, in 1707, became the last monarch to reject a Bill, while Queen Victoria was the last to give the Royal Assent in person in 1854.

These days the Queen signs a document which commands certain Lords to inform the members of both houses that the Royal Assent has been given. Though the Queen always knows which Bills she is consenting to, it is unlikely that she reads through the contents of every Bill before giving the Royal Assent because she is aware of the fact that both Houses of Parliament have already considered the Bill very carefully. However, most important Bills are sure to be mentioned in some of her weekly meetings with the Prime Minister.

Once a Bill has received the Royal Assent it becomes an Act of Parliament.

TASK 7. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following key words and expressions.

1. «комитет всей палаты», палата, действующая как комитет

2. постоянный комитет

3. процесс рассмотрения Билля в комитете

4. пояснительная записка

5. входить в состав комитета

6. отложить принятие законопроекта

7. иметь конституционное значение

8. принять / отклонить законопроект

9. одержать победу при голосовании

10. отозвать поправку

11. голосование по первому чтению

TASK 8. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the origin of the term ‘Reading’?

2. What are the reasons for Bills to be sent to committees?

3. Under which circumstances can an amendment be withdrawn?

4. Where is the new legislation initiated?

5. In what way does the Committee stage in the House of Lords differ from that in the House of Commons?

6. Why are Lords’ powers over Money Bills restricted?

7. What is the role of the Royal Assent in making a law?

TASK 9. Read the following text and be ready to retell it.

Types of Bills

A Bill is a proposal for a new law. Most Bills are introduced into Parliament by the Government; some will be implementing policies that were promised in its election manifesto and others will be responding to economic and social issues as they develop.

There are two main kinds of Bill – Public Bills and Private Bills.

Public Bills are intended to affect the public as a whole and change the general law. They are Government Bills and Private Members’ Bills. The majority of Public Bills that become Acts of Parliament are introduced by a government Minister and are known as Government Bills. When a new government comes to power after a general election it will normally have a number of policies it wishes to put into effect. Where necessary it will try to change the law by introducing Bills into Parliament. Each Bill will be piloted through Parliament by a Minister from the appropriate Government Department. Government Bills usually succeed in getting through Parliament because the Government has a majority in the House of Commons. Private Members’ Bills are sponsored by individual MPs. Many Private Members’ Bills fail to complete their passage through Parliament, either through lack of support or, more likely, because of shortage of time. Government business is usually given priority and Private Members’ Bills can get squeezed out. To be successful a Private Members’ Bill ideally needs to be non-controversial and have support of the Government.

Private Bills are only intended to affect one particular area or organisation. They are promoted by organisations outside the House (e.g. local authorities or companies) to obtain powers for themselves in excess of or in conflict with the general law. They should not be confused with Private Members’ Bills, which are a type of Public Bill. In practice, only a few Private Bills are now considered each session.

Hybrid Bills are Public Bills which may affect the specific private rights of people or bodies. They are generally introduced by the Government, but are fairly rare.

TASK 10. Translate the following terms into Russian:

• Public Bill

• Government Bill

• Private Members’ Bill

• Private Bill

• Hybrid Bill

TASK 11. Rearrange paragraphs in the text and put them in the correct order:

Making New Laws

(…) Finally, the Bill goes to the reigning monarch for the Royal Assent. All Bills must pass through both houses before being sent for signature by the Queen, when they become Acts of Parliament and the Law of the Land.

(…) Nowadays the Royal Assent is merely a formality. In theory, the Queen can still refuse to sign the Bill, but she always signs them.

(…) The Bill then goes to one of the Houses for the report stage, when it can be amended. If passed after its third reading, it goes to the other house. Amendments made to a Bill by the House of Lords must be considered by the Commons. In case the House of Commons does not agree, the Bill is altered and sent back to the Lords for reconsideration. If disagreement between the two Houses persists, the Commons prevails. The House of Lords has no power to deal with money Bills, but it can table them.

(…) New legislation in Britain usually starts in the House of Commons which plays the major role in law-making. However the House of Lords also has the power to initiate legislation. In each House a Bill is considered in three stages, called readings. The first reading is purely formal, to introduce the bill. The second reading is usually the occasion for debate. After the second reading the bill is examined in detail by a committee.

TASK 12. Fill each gap with the appropriate preposition from the box. Some prepositions can be used more than once:

Before, out, of, on, over, by, for between, in, to

1. Government Bills enable the Government to carry … important aspects of party policy and to meet the demands … a changing society.

2. Government Bills are unlikely to be rejected completely because the Government is normally able to rely … the support of its majority in the House of Commons, so most Government Bills succeed … becoming Acts of Parliament.

3. The Bills concerning policy are often a subject … fierce arguments … the Government and opposition.

4. A debate is a formal discussion … a topic in the House of Commons or the House of Lords.

5. MPs take turns to speak … the subject concerned.

6. The debate is strictly controlled … a set of rules and is presided … by the Speaker in the House of Commons.

7. In the House of Lords, members are responsible … controlling the debate themselves.

8. Any Bill has to be properly written …, or drafted.

9. A White Paper is often the basis for a Bill to be put … Parliament.

TASK 13. Translate the following text into English, paying special attention to words and expressions in bold type. Make use of the active vocabulary of the unit: