Pursuing the response to consultation paper, the Commission will then draw up positive proposals for reform. These will be presented in a report, which will also set out the research that led to the conclusions. There will of ten be a draft Bill attached to the report with the intention that this is the exact way in which the new law should be formed. Such a draft Bill must go before Parliament and go through the necessary Parliamentary stages if it is to become law.
Consolidation is needed because in some areas of law there are a number of statues, each of which sets out a small part of the total law. For example, the law on sentencing offenders under the age of 17 was been amended more than ten times and it was necessary to consult each of the Acts to her a clear of the law. The aim of consolidation is to draw all the existing provisions together in one Act. This is another way in, which the law is being made more accessible. The Law Commissions produces about five Consolidation Bills each year, though it is perhaps true to say that as fast as one area is consolidated, another area I being fragment by further Acts of Parliament.
Codification was particularly referred to by section 3 of the Law Commissions Act 1965 as part of the Law Commission’s role. When the Law Commission was first formed in 1965 an ambitious programme of codification was announced. They aimed to codify family law, contract law, landlord and tenant laws and the law of evidence. However, the Law Commission has gradually abandoned these massive schemes of codification in favour of what might be termed the ‘building block’ approach. Under this it has concentrated on codifying small sections of the laws that can be added to afterwards.
The whole concept of codification is the topic of debate. Those in favour of it say that it makes the law both accessible and understandable. Additionally it gives consistency and certainty. The law is enclosed in one place and both lawyers and the people can easily discover what the law is. The opposite view point is that a very detailed code makes the law too rigid; while if a code is drafted in broad terms without detail, it will need to be interpreted by the courts and in this way would be just as uncertain as the existing common law.
Apart from the full-time Law Commission there are also temporary committees or Royal Commissions set up to investigate and report on one specific area of law. These are dissolved after completed their task. Such Royal Commissions were used frequently from 1945 to 1979, but during the time when Margaret Thatcher was Prime minister, none was set up. In the 1990s there was a return to the use of such commissions.
Members of a Royal Commission are selected from judges, academic lawyers and other people with knowledge of the subject who have other jobs. This means the Commission can only sit part time so it can often take a long time for the Commission to report back.
Some Royal Commissions have led to important changes in the law, or for example the Royal Commission on Police Procedure reported in 1981 and many of its recommendations were given effect by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
However the government does not always act on recommendations. For example, the report of the Pearson Commission on Personal Injury cases was never brought into effect. With the Runciman Commission, which reported in 1993, the Government implemented many of the proposals, but not all.
A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. They can also be described as ‘interest groups’, ‘lobby groups’ or ‘protest groups’. Some people avoid using the term ‘pressure group’ as it can inadvertently be interpreted as meaning the groups use actual pressure to achieve their aims, which does not necessarily happen. In Britain, the number of political parties is very small, whereas the number of pressure groups runs into thousands; as the membership of political parties has fallen, that of pressure groups has increased.
Pressure groups may cause the government to reconsider the law on certain areas. This was seen when the Labour Government finally agreed to reduce the age of consent for homosexual acts in private to 16. Another clear example of the Government bowing to public opinion and the efforts of pressure groups was the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
In addition, specific events may also play a role in formulating the law. A particularly tragic example was the massacre in 1996 of 16 young children and their teacher in Dunblane by a lone gunman, An enquiry into the ownership of guns was set up an a pressure group organised a petition asking for guns to be banned. Eventually Parliament banned private ownership of most handguns. The aim of all pressure groups is to influence the people who actually have the power to make decisions. Pressure groups do not look for the power of political office for themselves, but do seek to influence the decisions made by those who do hold this political power. Often pressure groups find themselves competing with rival pressure groups with the aim of gaining an advantage over them, but sometimes groups work together to achieve a common aim.
Insider pressure groups have strong links with decision makers and are regularly consulted. Insider pressure groups are the groups that the government - local or national - considers to be legitimate and are, therefore, given access to decision makers. For example, insider groups might be included in regular meetings with ministers or civil servants and they might be included on lists for circulation of new government proposals. The fact that insider groups are part of the consultation process enables them to use direct methods in order to exert influence. Insider groups tend to be very powerful and long-term in terms of political influence. It is more common for sectional rather than promotional groups to be insiders, although this is by no means always the case.
Outsider pressure groups have none of the advantages of insider groups. They cannot expect to be consulted during the policy-making process, nor can they expect to gain access to ministers and civil servants. Rather, they have to work outside the governmental decision making process and, therefore, have fewer opportunities to determine the direction of policy.
Outsider groups adopt different strategies and can be further subdivided in to two categories. The first are outsider groups aiming for insider status. They do this by waiting for a different political climate, such as a change in government. If such a change materialises, they might immediately gain insider status. Outsider groups hoping for a change in political climate often work closely with the opposition in Parliament and, generally, their strategy is to abide by the ‘rules of the game’. Alternatively, groups seeking insider status may be new groups with little experience, resources and expertise. Decision makers might support their aims but do not consult them because they are thought to have little to offer. In addition there is a category of outsider groups that do not aim for insider status because they are ideologically opposed to the political system. By definition, such groups have no interest in gaining access to governmental decision makers. Pressure groups assist the surveillance of the government by exposing information it would rather keep secret, thereby reinforcing and complementing work of opposition through political parties. Pressure groups thereby improve the accountability of decision makers to electorates.
Example of British Pressure Groups.
- Charter 88 – campaigning for a written constitution and entrenched Bill of Rights
- British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection – campaigning to halt the breeding and use of animals in experiments;
- British Roads Federation – aiming to focus attention for a higher standard of service from the UK road network;
- Earth First – campaigning against the destruction of the environment;
- Liberty – campaigning to defend and extend human rights and civil liberties
- Unison – trade union for public sector workers;
- National Union of Students (NUS);
- Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA);
- National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC
Pressure groups are an essential dimension of any democracy, yet they can endanger democracy if sectional groups undermine the public interest or if the methods they use are corrupt or intimidating.
