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38-707: Election courts are governed by the Representation of the People Act 1983 . They are overseen by a rota of High Court (in England and Wales) or Court of Session (in Scotland) judges. The election court is established following the presentation, to the High Court or Court of Session, of an election petition challenging the result of the election. The constitution of the court differs depending on whether

76-430: A by-election for the seat should be held. Woolas said that he would apply for a judicial review into the ruling. In a statement released through his lawyer, Woolas stated that "this election petition raised fundamental issues about the freedom to question and criticise politicians" and that it "will inevitably chill political speech". The judicial review failed to overturn the ruling of the election court. In June 2015

114-490: A candidate to withdraw from an election. Section 108 made it illegal to hire a room in a pub for holding a campaign committee meeting. This section was repealed by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 . Section 109 prohibits hiring special advertising spaces (e.g. on the sides of houses) for the display of campaign posters (hiring ordinary advertising billboards used for regular advertising

152-482: A candidate. During the time limit of the election, all money spent on the promotion of a candidate must be authorised by his election agent. This includes the cost of holding public meetings, organising public displays, issuing advertisements, circulars, or otherwise presenting the candidate's views and the extent or nature of his backing or disparaging another candidate. It does not include travel expenses from home or similar personal expenses. The expenses limit for

190-425: A form of primary legislation , is a text of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council ). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament begin as a bill , which the legislature votes on. Depending on the structure of government, this text may then be subject to assent or approval from the executive branch . A draft act of parliament

228-401: A number of stages before it can become law. In theory, this allows the bill's provisions to be debated in detail, and for amendments to the original bill to also be introduced, debated, and agreed to. In bicameral parliaments, a bill that has been approved by the chamber into which it was introduced then sends the bill to the other chamber. Broadly speaking, each chamber must separately agree to

266-466: A private member's bill). In Australia, the bill passes through the following stages: In Canada, the bill passes through the following stages: The committee considers each clause of the bill, and may make amendments to it. Significant amendments may be made at the committee stage. In some cases, whole groups of clauses are inserted or removed. However, if the Government holds a majority, almost all

304-423: A question even if the answer would incriminate him, although the answer cannot be used against him in any subsequent criminal proceedings (except in the case of a charge of perjury). The trial itself is preceded by 'the scrutiny' in which the ballot papers are examined by an officer of the court (or, in rare cases, by the court itself) in order to establish a factual basis for the trial. The scrutiny may be attended by

342-513: A report (to the Speaker or the High Court, as the case may be) stating whether it finds any candidate in the election guilty, either personally or by his agents, of corrupt practices. The effect of such a report is that the candidate's election is void (if he had been successful originally), and he is prohibited from holding any elected office for five years; in the case of some corrupt practices he may also be prohibited from voting in any election for

380-590: A specific chamber. For example, bills imposing a tax , or involving public expenditure , are introduced into the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, Canada's House of Commons , Lok Sabha of India and Ireland's Dáil as a matter of law. Conversely, bills proposed by the Law Commission and consolidation bills traditionally start in the House of Lords . Once introduced, a bill must go through

418-441: Is also illegal to publish a false statement of a candidate's withdrawal from an election. In September 2007 Miranda Grell was found guilty under this section when she made allegations of paedophilia and having sex with teenage boys against her gay opponent during the 2006 United Kingdom local elections . In November 2010, Labour MP Phil Woolas was found by an electoral court to have breached section 106. The judges ruled that

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456-401: Is known as a bill . In other words, a bill is a proposed law that needs to be discussed in the parliament before it can become a law. In territories with a Westminster system , most bills that have any possibility of becoming law are introduced into parliament by the government. This will usually happen following the publication of a " white paper ", setting out the issues and the way in which

494-493: Is permitted). Section 110 states that any material, leaflet or advertisement for a candidate in an election must include the names and addresses of the printer, the promoter, and the person on behalf of whom the material is being published. In December 2008 a Liverpool City Liberal Democrats councillor was found guilty under this section for delivering leaflets during the 2007 United Kingdom local elections purporting to be on behalf of The United Socialist Party (but lacking

532-609: Is presented to the Governor General , who gives it royal assent . Although the Governor General can refuse to assent a bill, this power has never been exercised. Bills being reviewed by Parliament are assigned numbers: 2 to 200 for government bills, 201 to 1000 for private member's bills , and 1001 up for private bills . They are preceded by C- if they originate in the House of Commons, or S- if they originate in

570-531: Is valid, the original result of the election stands. In the case of a local government election in England and Wales, the commissioner issues a certificate of their decision to the High Court (in Scotland, the commissioner's determination does not need to be certified to the Court of Session). In either case, if the election court considers that corrupt practices have taken place during the election, it also issues

608-670: The Irish Parliament, the Oireachtas , bills pass through the following stages. Bills may be initiated in either the Dáil or the Seanad, and must pass both houses. In New Zealand, the bill passes through the following stages: A draft piece of legislation is called a bill ; when this is passed by Parliament it becomes an act and part of statute law. There are two types of bill and act, public and private . Public acts apply to

646-523: The People Act 1983 The Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It changed the British electoral process in the following ways: The Act also regulates how political parties and people acting on their behalf are to behave before and during an election. Sections 72 to 90 control the total election expenses that can be spent on behalf of

684-589: The Senate. For example, Bill C-250 was a private member's bill introduced in the House. Bills C-1 and S-1 are pro forma bills, and are introduced at the beginning of each session in order to assert the right of each Chamber to manage its own affairs. They are introduced and read a first time, and then are dropped from the Order Paper . In the Parliament of India , every bill passes through following stages before it becomes an Act of Parliament of India : In

722-412: The amendments which are agreed to in committee will have been tabled by the Government to correct deficiencies in the bill or to enact changes to policy made since the bill was introduced (or, in some cases, to import material which was not ready when the bill was presented). The debate on each stage is actually debate on a specific motion. For the first reading, there is no debate. For the second reading,

760-428: The ballot box. These sections were repealed by Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 . Section 106 makes it illegal for any person to publish any false statement of fact in relation to the candidate's personal character or conduct, unless he or she can show that he had reasonable grounds for believing that statement to be true. Similar provisions in previous laws have made this illegal since 1895. It

798-423: The calendar year, with the first act passed being chapter 1, and so on. In the United Kingdom, legislation has referenced by year and chapter number since 1963 ( Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Act 1962 ). Each act is numbered consecutively based on the date it received royal assent, for example the 43rd act passed in 1980 would be 1980 chapter 43. The full reference includes the (short) title and would be

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836-429: The campaign (which is enforceable due to it all having to be authorised by one person) is £100,000 for a parliamentary by-election , but is approximately £5,483 plus either 6.2p or 4.6p for every registered voter in the district. Sections 91 to 94 entitle the candidate to one free mailshot of election material to all voters in the constituency. It is also illegal to print fake polling cards. Sections 95 to 98 entitle

874-513: The candidate to hold public meetings free of charge in schools and other public buildings in the constituency, and pay only the cost price for making the rooms available. Sections 99 makes it illegal for officers in charge of administering an election to be involved in any of the election campaigns. Section 100 forbids a police officer from canvassing in any election which overlaps with their police area. Sections 101 to 105 made it illegal to hire or lend taxis and buses to give lifts of voters to

912-606: The case began on 13 September 2010. In the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, the defeated Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins petitioned against the election of Phil Woolas , a former Labour minister, alleging that the result was affected by false statements of fact about his personal character. The election court which heard the case ordered a re-run of the election in Woolas' constituency after finding him guilty of making false statements against his opponent during

950-408: The case is heard by one or more sheriffs principal . The Court sits in the parliamentary constituency, or in the local government area, in question. The election court ceases to exist when the case is concluded. The election court tries the petition without a jury, and has all the powers of the High Court or Court of Session. Witnesses give evidence on oath, and a witness is not excused from answering

988-407: The election being challenged is for a seat on a local council or in Parliament . In the case of a parliamentary election, the court comprises two of the High Court or Court of Session judges who are on the rota. In the case of a local government election in England and Wales, the judges appoint an experienced barrister as a commissioner to hear the case. In the case of a council election in Scotland,

1026-475: The following stages: There are special procedures for emergency bills, member's bills (similar to private member's bills in the UK Parliament), committee bills, and private bills. In Singapore, the bill passes through these certain stages before becoming into an Act of Parliament. Acts passed by the Parliament of England did not originally have titles, and could only be formally cited by reference to

1064-529: The independent candidate in Mid Bedfordshire , Tim Ireland, lodged an appeal against the result at the general election , accusing Nadine Dorries of breaches of section 106 by making false statements about his character. The petition was rejected by the High Court of Justice because it was served at Dorries' constituency office and not her home address. Section 107 makes it illegal to bribe

1102-559: The motion is "That this bill be now read a second time and be referred to [name of committee]" and for third reading "That this bill be now read a third time and pass." In the Committee stage, each clause is called and motions for amendments to these clauses, or that the clause stand part of the bill are made. In the Report stage, the debate is on the motions for specific amendments. Once a bill has passed both Houses in an identical form, it

1140-523: The necessary names and addresses) attacking the Labour candidate for crossing a picket line during a strike, and accusing his wife (who is a sitting councillor) of leaving council meetings early to learn lap dancing. Schedule 1 of the Act lays out in complete form the rules for running a parliamentary election and how the nomination papers should be handled. Act of Parliament An act of parliament , as

1178-409: The original campaign. Phil Woolas sought a judicial review of the decision in the High Court, but was unsuccessful overall as that court upheld the decision of the election court in relation to two statements, whilst quashing the decision in relation to a third. Recent cases in which election courts have ruled on the validity of elections include local government elections: Representation of

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1216-426: The parliamentary session in which they were passed, with each individual act being identified by year and chapter number. Descriptive titles began to be added to the enrolled acts by the official clerks, as a reference aid; over time, titles came to be included within the text of each bill. Since the mid-nineteenth century, it has also become common practice for acts to have a short title , as a convenient alternative to

1254-456: The parties and their lawyers, who can make representations to the person carrying out the scrutiny. After the judges trying a petition against the result of a parliamentary election have determined whether the successful candidate was validly elected or not, they issue a certificate of their decision to the Speaker of the House of Commons . If the two judges disagree as to whether the election

1292-401: The proposed new law is intended to deal with them. A bill may also be introduced into parliament without formal government backing; this is known as a private member's bill . In territories with a multicameral parliament, most bills may be first introduced in any chamber. However, certain types of legislation are required, either by constitutional convention or by law, to be introduced into

1330-477: The same period. There is no appeal from an election court on a question of fact, but questions of law may be reviewed by the High Court or Court of Session by way of judicial review . Two election petitions were lodged after the general election on 6 May 2010. The defeated Independent Rodney Connor , who lost in Fermanagh and South Tyrone by four votes, lodged a petition seeking a recount with scrutiny, and

1368-477: The same version of the bill. Finally, the approved bill receives assent; in most territories this is merely a formality and is often a function exercised by the head of state . In some countries, such as in France, Belgium, Luxembourg , Spain and Portugal, the term for a bill differs depending on whether it is initiated by the government (when it is known as a "draft"), or by the parliament (a "proposition", i.e.,

1406-477: The sometimes lengthy main titles. The Short Titles Act 1892 , and its replacement the Short Titles Act 1896 , gave short titles to many acts which previously lacked them. The numerical citation of acts has also changed over time. The original method was based on the regnal year (or years) in which the relevant parliamentary session met. This has been replaced in most territories by simple reference to

1444-621: The whole of the UK or a number of its constituent countries – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Private acts are local and personal in their effect, giving special powers to bodies such as local authorities or making exceptions to the law in particular geographic areas. In the United Kingdom Parliament, each bill passes through the following stages: In the Scottish Parliament, bills pass through

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