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vypracovaná otázka (19kový) č. 6 (q_6.doc)

6)

1. The legislative branch of government

Parliament is the legislative organ and is constitutionally composed of the Monarch, The House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Queen in Parliament represents the supreme authority within the United Kingdom.

The Parliament at Westminster legislates for the United Kingdom, for any one of the constituent countries, or for any combination of them. It may legislate on certain ’excepted’ and ’reserved’ matters for Northern Ireland, subject to the provisions of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act, 1973. It may also legislate for the Cannel Islands and the Isle of Man, under certain conditions, although these islands possess their own ancient legislatures. The Parliament Act, 1911 provides that the life of one Parliament may not exceed five years.

Parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The House of Lords is for the most part still a hereditary body. It consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Temporal include hereditary peers and peeresses who have not disclaimed their peerages under the Peerages Act, 1963: life peers and peeresses created by the Crown under the Life Peerages Act, 1958 in recognition of public service, and the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor who is ex officio chairman of the House. The Lords Spiritual include the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and the 21 most senior diocesan bishops of the Church of England.

The House of Commons is an elected and representative body, members (at present 650) are elected by almost universal adult suffrage to represent constituencies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The law relating to parliamentary elections is contained in substance in the Representation of the People Act, 1949, as amended. Any British subject aged 21+, not otherwise disqualified may be elected a Member of Parliament (MP).

Members are paid a salary and an allowance for secretarial and office expenses, after a Parliament is dissolved all seats are subject to a General Election. By-elections take place when a vacancy occurs during the life of a Parliament, as when a member dies, is elevated to the House of Lords or accepts an ’office of profit’ under the Crown.

The Speaker of the House of Commons is elected by the members from the members to preside over the House immediately after each new Parliament is formed. He is an impartial arbiter over parliamentary procedure and the traditional guardian of the rights and privileges of the House of Commons.

The supremacy, or sovereignty, of the UK Parliament is probably the most basic principle of British constitutional law. Parliament has of its own will settled the duration of the life of a Parliament, acts in such a way as not to bind its successors in the manner or form of their legislation, and, in the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 has provided that in certain circumstances a Bill may become law without the concurrence of all the component parts of Parliament. These two Acts have clarified the supremacy of the House of Commons over the House of Lords, which can only delay the passage of Public Bills for a maximum period of one year and cannot delay at all the passage of Money Bills.

2. Nuisance

There are two kinds of nuisance, i.e. private and public

Private nuisance

It is an unlawful indirect interference with the use or enjoyment of another person’s land or interference with rights over land.

The interference may consist of:

1. actual injury to property, for example fumes killing shrubs, or roots undermining a wall, intrusion by tree branches from the defendant’s land
2. interference with health or comfort, for example noise, smoke, or smell
3. interference with easements or natural rights

The duration and excessiveness of the nuisance are relevant as well as the nature of the area because the standard of comfort protected by the law varies from place to place (i.e. a person in a town cannot expect silence and clean air). The defendant must be the creator of the nuisance or the occupier of the land on which the nuisance arises.

Public nuisance

This is an unlawful act or omission, which endangers the health, safety, or comfort of the public (or some section of it) or obstructs the exercise of a common right, for example selling contaminated food, or obstructing a highway. It defers from private nuisance in that it is a crime as well as a tort, it may be constituted by an isolated act, it need not involve an interference with the use or enjoyment of land and several people at least must be affected.

In R. v. Maddon 1975 D dialled 999 and informed the telephonist that there was a 200-lb. bomb at the local steel works. The call was a hoax and D was charged with the offence of committing a public nuisance. The only people who knew of the call and its contents were the telephonist, eight security guards, and the police – who conducted an hour long search until the hoax was discovered. It was held that the offence of public nuisance had not been committed since not enough people were affected.