Strengths And Weaknesses Of Parliament As A Law-Maker
VCAA 2001
Question 8
A. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of parliament as a law-maker. Illustrate your answer with a comparison of law-making by courts. (12 marks)
Parliaments primary role is to make laws on behalf of the community as the need arises. Parliament can also change the law as the need arises. Eg//cloning. As parliament only sits for a small portion of the year they cannot always change the law as the need arises. They also may not be able to foresee all future circumstances and laws may become outdated. Sometimes to help with this problem parliament makes laws in futuro, meaning that laws are made for the future with the future in mind for as far as possible. Although rare, parliament can make retrospective laws, which makes something that was legal at that particular time illegal. This is seen as a weakness of parliament as people can been prosecuted for crimes they committed many years ago. Parliament is the supreme law-making body; it can make laws on all issues within its jurisdiction. However, the process of law-making can be slow. The courts, on the other hand, can change the law quickly if a relevant case is brought before them, they also can create precedent to be followed by other in the community in the future. Courts cannot change the law unless a relevant case is …show more content…
This may be because a state or Commonwealth parliament has passed an act thought to be outside their constitutional powers. Someone affected by this act can challenge the act in the High Court if they think that the act is legislating is areas outside its power of the particular parliament. For example, the state parliament may challenge the validity of an act passed by the Commonwealth Parliament if it thinks it has gone outside its powers. An individual can challenge and act they believe has gone outside the power of the Commonwealth Parliament and she or he is affected by the
Question 8
A. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of parliament as a law-maker. Illustrate your answer with a comparison of law-making by courts. (12 marks)
Parliaments primary role is to make laws on behalf of the community as the need arises. Parliament can also change the law as the need arises. Eg//cloning. As parliament only sits for a small portion of the year they cannot always change the law as the need arises. They also may not be able to foresee all future circumstances and laws may become outdated. Sometimes to help with this problem parliament makes laws in futuro, meaning that laws are made for the future with the future in mind for as far as possible. Although rare, parliament can make retrospective laws, which makes something that was legal at that particular time illegal. This is seen as a weakness of parliament as people can been prosecuted for crimes they committed many years ago. Parliament is the supreme law-making body; it can make laws on all issues within its jurisdiction. However, the process of law-making can be slow. The courts, on the other hand, can change the law quickly if a relevant case is brought before them, they also can create precedent to be followed by other in the community in the future. Courts cannot change the law unless a relevant case is …show more content…
This may be because a state or Commonwealth parliament has passed an act thought to be outside their constitutional powers. Someone affected by this act can challenge the act in the High Court if they think that the act is legislating is areas outside its power of the particular parliament. For example, the state parliament may challenge the validity of an act passed by the Commonwealth Parliament if it thinks it has gone outside its powers. An individual can challenge and act they believe has gone outside the power of the Commonwealth Parliament and she or he is affected by the