GriglioElena. Parliamentary Oversight of the Executives – Tools and Procedures in Europe. Hart Publishing, 2020, Volume 4 in the series Parliamentary Democracy in Europe. ISBN 978-1-5099-2568-1

The editorial team of the Israeli National Legislation Database endeavored to locate all the proclamations, ordinances, and ‘Orders in Council’ published from the beginning of the British military regime in Palestine to the last ‘hidden laws’ published in the waning days of the British Mandate. These documents complete the historical information on Israel state laws and shed light on the initial establishment

The UK Government has published a draft Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Repeal) Bill (‘the Draft Bill’),11 which is presently being given pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.22

It was an excellent demonstration of the helpful symbiosis between government and Parliament in the service of the rule of law that in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Public Health Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020,11 the Government responded quickly to certain defects identified and reported on by the Joint Committee for Statutory Instruments; so quickly

This note considers Re: A Company (Injunction to Restrain Presentation of Petition) [2020] EWHC 1406 (Ch) and Travelodge Ltd v Prime Aesthetics Ltd [2020] EWHC 1217 (Ch) in the context of earlier case law and looks at the circumstances in which the courts have shown a willingness to have regard to the likelihood of future legislation

Abstract When India enacted the Companies Act, 2013, it became one of the few countries of the world to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a legal obligation for a large number of Indian companies. Using a comprehensive analysis of companies’ CSR disclosures and the interviews of relevant stakeholders, this article provides a bird’s-eye view on the major issues plaguing the current regulatory

I am most grateful to Master Treasurer for his kind invitation to speak this evening. In terms of law, I am only too well aware that I come from the factory, and I am facing an audience of extremely discriminating consumers.

AbstractThis article utilizes the sexual offence reform in Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, and Western Australia as a case study to critically examine the perils and causes of duplicate offences. For perils, this article demonstrates that the failure to abolish a lesser offence (i.e. the procurement by false pretence offence) that was rendered redundant by a statutory expansion of the primary

AbstractAmendments to the constitution and the jurisprudence surrounding the constituent power of Parliament have traditionally dominated the field of Indian constitutional law and constitutionalism. Most debates in this field have been restricted to issues like the source of the amending power of Parliament, express, and implied limits on the power to amend, and so on. In an attempt to revert to the

Treaties are agreements between States negotiated by government executives. They are primarily meant to govern the relationship between States, but may have implications for the economic, political, and fundamental rights of citizens. As treaties create binding legal obligations for States enforceable under international law, this article primarily argues that Parliamentary oversight of treaties is

AbstractOn 19 July 2018, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (AEVA) received Royal Assent. As motor vehicles are becoming increasingly technologically based, with driving aids having taken over many of the more mundane (and possibly dangerous) aspects of driving from the driver, it is imperative that legislation keeps pace to determine the responsibilities of the parties. Motor insurance provides

The title comes from a judgment I gave earlier this year. I was talking about the format of the statutes which emerged from the Tax Law Rewrite project. A key feature of the inclusion of statutory “signposts” which as I put it are there “to give clear pointers to each stage of the taxpayer’s journey to fiscal enlightenment”. I will come back to the Rewrite Project later in this speech. But it occurred

AbstractSir John Laws, the originator of the principle of constitutional statutes, suggests that the protection accorded to them has its roots in the protection from implied repeal given to the European Communities Act 1972 and to constitutional fundamentals. We argue that this suggestion is more convincing with regard to the latter than it is with the former. Further, we contend that founding constitutional

Can we provide legislative drafters with tools to simplify and clarify legislation, and make it more accessible? In the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and EU, through strategies such as the ‘Plain Language’ and ‘Good Law’ (PL/GL) initiatives, it is claimed that the answer is ‘yes’. Though many of the normative intentions underlying such initiatives are commendable, we argue that the pursuit of legislative

AbstractA focus on back-end constitutional actors remains the norm when we think of typical constitutional guardians. This piece challenges that perception, examining the uniquely situated UK constitution, with a focus on two significant front-end constitutional guardians: bill drafters within the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and senior clerks within the House of Commons. These two groups of actors

When New Zealand’s Parliament legislates to the effect that law on some particular matter may only be enacted using a mandated procedure, can the New Zealand judiciary enforce this provision against a future Parliament that fails to comply with it? This question regarding the status and effect of such “manner and form” requirements has been a perennial topic of public law discussions, primarily in

AbstractIt is a common arrangement in different legislatures that individual members who are not ministers can bring forward bills (private members’ bills), but the drafting of a bill may involve certain technicalities that are usually outside their knowledge. How, then, do legislators prepare the text of private members’ bills? This article presents the way in which support is provided to those members

AbstractSection 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 stipulates that all agreements made with the ‘free consent’ of parties who are ‘competent’ to contract are enforceable as contracts. Section 11 declares that minors are not competent to contract. While the Act goes on to specifically set out the consequences of vitiated ‘consent’ in sections 19, 19A, and 20, it omits spelling out the consequences

AbstractThe purpose of Parliamentary scrutiny and debates in drafting a law is to avoid ambiguity, vagueness and definitional deficiencies. The penal provisions in the criminal laws should be clear on the acts that constitute the offence, and the intention of the accused person. A look at the drafting history of a law may aid one to ascertain the intention of Parliament. It is argued that there are

Statutory interpretation involves an interpreter determining the meaning of the text on the basis of various interpretive tools, all of which relate to the meaning of the words and their composition in light of the relevant context. Recently, with the increasing availability of scientific research tools such as corpus linguistics, advocates of such methods have stressed that statutory interpretation

AbstractThe relation between the threat to rule of law in India and its poorly drafted legislation may not be obvious at first. And yet clear, intelligible laws have been the premise for the success of rule of law. There is little research done in the field of plain language legislative drafting in India. This article analyses three important elements of plain language drafting in nine Indian statutes

AbstractIn this article, the application of the UK doctrine of fiscal nullity by the Supreme Court is considered in light of the twin decisions in the cases of UBS AG v. IRC11 and DB Group Services (UK) Ltd v. IRC.22 This article argues that fiscal nullity is not a separate doctrine of taxation but can be explained in the way the facts are proven in a tax case, in the way that legal transactions are

AbstractIndia has witnessed a major shift from the predominant seclusion in the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, when there was no effectiveness in the treatment provided, to the Mental Health Act, 1987, when the focus was on the treatment and care of mentally ill patients along with some efforts to de-stigmatize and ensure human rights, to the recent Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which primarily focuses on

The Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision in Prabagaran a/l Srivijayan v Public Prosecutor represents a substantial development in Singapore’s law on the doctrine of severability in constitutional review. An examination of Prabagaran reveals rich theoretical underpinnings relating to the nature of legislative intent. The case rightly locates the crux of the severability inquiry in secondary legislative

The environmental, social and economic benefits provided by greenspace are well-documented, and the closure of other types of Third Place has popularised them further. Yet, public sector funding cuts have necessitated local authorities prioritising other facilities that they are statutorily obliged to provide, resulting in a facilities-hierarchy which leaves financially-neglected greenspaces facing

Using the case of Buchanan v. Babco, the paper argues that multi-lingual settings are particularly suitable for disclosing cognitive and reasoning tasks that lawyers have to perform when interpreting a statute. It shows how approaches developed in computer science to model the way in which conflicting ontologies or worldviews are merged and inconsistencies between them repaired can also help our understanding

In Marley v. Rawlings, the UK Supreme Court had to decide who should inherit the estate of Alfred Rawlings—who had mistakenly signed his wife’s Will (instead of his own). In this article, I will examine the issues of interpretative methodology arising from this case. The Supreme Court resolved the dispute by exercising its statutory power to rectify the putative Will, but it failed to articulate clearly

The UK’s referendum decision of 23 June 2016, where voters elected to leave the European Union (EU), will fundamentally change aspects of national law. Much debate has focused on the constitutional implications of the decision and the procedure by which the government seeks to facilitate the exit. Further, issues of substance including the part played by immigration and the control of the UK’s borders

It is an honour for me to have been invited once again to deliver a lecture to the Statute Law Society. I can look back to the early years when the late Lord Renton laid down the foundations for the Society and to the work of the late Lord Rodger who took up the reins when Lord Renton had to pass on the work to someone else. I recall how much time and dedication Alan Rodger gave to the task which he

This article examines the legal methodology that courts have to employ when they construe domestic law in accordance with European Union directives. It demonstrates that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has set up autonomous ‘European methodological rules’. These rules apply together with national legal methods. The relationship between both regimes can be described with the concepts

Interpretation of legislation implementing acutely political government policies presents challenges for courts in a variety of ways. Those challenges are heightened when the measure is one originating from the devolved legislatures of the UK nations where courts have the power to declare that such acts are ‘not law’ where they exceed the defined legislative competence of the devolved legislature,

In the United Kingdom, motor vehicle insurance is governed by national and EU law. In respect of the EU requirement that member states establish a guarantee fund from which the victims of negligent uninsured or untraced drivers may obtain compensation, the United Kingdom entered into a series of agreements with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). In 2015, the MIB established the Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement

Lord Steyn once stated that the victimization of those who complain of discrimination under the equality legislation should be treated as seriously as the discrimination itself. Empirical research, demonstrating the fear of reprisals, supports this. If, say, employees can be denied promotions, grievance processes, transfers, or references because of a complaint, their careers could be frozen for years

Most of the law which the courts are called on to apply is statutory. Yet statutory interpretation languishes as a subject of study. For the most part, law students are expected to pick it up by a sort of process of osmosis. It’s more fun and engaging to study cases, as vignettes of real life. So the common law and common law method wins out. However, in many ways modern statutory interpretation has

Dangerous legislative trends are emerging that threaten the effective protection of the rule of law. In India, the role of parliamentarians is being diluted in a number of ways. The role of the Upper House of Indian Parliament (Rajya sabha) in law making, is diluted, by inclusion of non-tax laws in the Finance Bill, and by labeling apparently a non-money bill as a money bill. It seems that in order

The purpose of this article is to critically review the provision of section 48 (2) (d) of the Zimbabwean Constitution from a gendered perspective. Section 48 (2) (d) of the Constitution would seem to have abolished death penalty for women but retained the same for men. Given Zimbabwe’s commitment to gender equality and respect for human dignity, this article argues that the disparity in the treatment

Many statutory offences in English criminal law appear absurdly broad in their scope. This article examines the role that narrow construction might play in limiting the scope of such offences. As a case study, the article uses the offence of possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a terrorist, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000; and the House of Lords’ interpretation of this

This paper analyzes the scope and impact of the novel unexplained wealth order (UWO) in Mauritius and highlights potential issues and challenges arising from the recent enactment of a law providing for UWOs. The recent enactment of The Good Governance and Integrity Reporting Act 2015 (‘GGIR’ or ‘Act’) in Mauritius has been hailed by many as a ‘step in the right direction’ in the fight against white-collar

The issue of whether statutory interpretation should be taught in law schools has been a difficult and divisive topic. Australia, like other common law jurisdictions, has grappled with the issue. Those advocating that it be treated as a discrete and significant area in the law school curriculum have struggled over the last two decades. Recently, however, an important step was taken. In 2015, the Council

Ambiguity in legislative writing causes confusion and misunderstanding. Sometimes, the ambiguity comes from conflicts between the drafter’s intended relationship of words and the reader’s perceived relationship of those words. At other times, ambiguity comes from the drafter’s failure to define important terms clearly. This paper (i) examines reasons for ambiguity in legislative writing as well as

Section 4 of the Indian Contract Act 1872, provides that an offer is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the offeree and that an acceptance is complete as against the offeror when it is put in the course of transmission by the acceptor so as to be out of his power and as against the acceptor when it comes to the knowledge of the offeror. Section 5 provides that the offer can be revoked at any

Critics have raised concerns that Pepper v. Hart’s relaxation of the exclusionary rule relating to Parliamentary debates in Hansard has created separation of powers issues by attributing statutory meaning to ministerial statements. This article argues that, in some cases, the absence of references to Hansard also has the potential to lead to separation of powers concerns, especially where citing Hansard

The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 includes the government’s reform of the banking industry regarding ‘ring-fencing’ and the ‘electrification’ of the ring-fence. The ring-fencing provisions in the Act are based on Sir John Vickers’ Report and the recommendations from the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS). The PCBS argument was that the envisaged ‘ring-fence’ regulation

The constitutional regulation has passed through a dramatic Soviet epoch where the chronological frameworks and the formation of the institute of rights and freedoms of citizens took place. The chronology of events of the given period can be divided into two stages: the first stage: from the 2nd Russian Congress of the Councils of Workmen’s and Soldier’s Deputies until January 1918, until the issue

The paper takes into consideration legislative provisions from a linguistic point of view. It applies tests of language in a number of texts belonging to the common law drafting practice to ascertain a loss of conceptual focus by legislative drafters and concludes that linguistics can provide a method by which drafters can assess the effectiveness of their draft.

The article reveals specific features of pretrial settlement of individual labor disputes in Estonia and Kazakhstan. Today, the problem of pretrial settlement of individual labor disputes in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the most relevant and needs to be improved. That is why this article provides suggestions for improving the labor legislation of Kazakhstan by the example and experience of the Estonian

If the principle of legality operates to obscure from Parliament the common law (rights) backdrop against which it legislates, the clarity or rights-sensitivity of that legislation cannot be improved. This undercuts, rather than promotes, the democratic and rule of law values that underpin the modern conception of the principle and its contemporary normative justification. So the courts must strive

‘Evaluation clauses’ are a legal basis requiring mandatory evaluation of public policies impact. Evaluation becomes a procedural institutionalization but, although they are widespread, no phrasing standards have been yet established. Without clarification, the questions raised by origins and effects of mandatory evaluation remained impossible to treat. Past studies dealing with this topic dismissed

This brief article is based on a paper given at a workshop at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London in June 2015. After outlining the salient features of the system for managing multilingualism at the Court of Justice of the European Union, the article focuses on some key influences on the English version of the Court’s judgments. It reviews the character of the French source text, the