The State: Legislative Branch and Law-making

Systems of Government and their evolution

 Monarchy-is a political system in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an
individual ruler who functions as head of state.
 Tyranny-a government in which all power is in the hands of a single ruler
 Aristocracy-is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged
ruling class, the aristocrats
 Oligarchy-is a form of government characterized by the rule of a few persons or families.
 Democracy- a way of governing which depends on the will of the people.
 Ochlocracy (Mob-rule)- is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the
intimidation of legitimate authorities
Why Democracy?
 “ government of the people, by the people, for the people” Abraham Lincoln
 Greece 508 BC; Switzerland 2022 AD
 Reasoning:
No taxation without representation
Stability
Legitimacy
Depths of democracy
 Representative democracy
it is a democratic political regime in which citizens delegate the power of the people - the
"sovereign" - to representatives they choose from among themselves, to take care of public
affairs.

Functions of political parties in representative democracy

1) Forum for public debate
2) Selecting representatives
3) Internal party democracy
4) Sifting out ‘bad’ candidates
5) Developing ideas
6) Specialisation of public officials
7) Campaigning
8) Structuring process of coalition building.
9) Selecting higher officials of government

 Direct democracy
is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected
representatives as proxies.
Democracy and the rule of law
 The Rule of Law
is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that
are: Publicly promulgated. Equally enforced. Independently adjudicated. And consistent with
international human rights principles

 The Legality Principle

if Parliament intends to interfere with fundamental rights or principles, or to depart from the
general system of law, then it must express that intention by clear and unambiguous language.
Building the rule of law; legislative power divided
 The constitution
 Constitutionally designated Legislation
Legislative reserve
 Delegated Legislation
(Subordinate; secondary; LI)
Most Common Designs of Parliament
 Unicameral:One House of Represantatives – Many unitary states

 Bicameral in Federal States – One house of Representatives,One house representing

States(Senate) – Nigeria,US,Germany
 Bicameral in Unitary States: One House of Representatives,One Chamber for Reflection –
Netherlands,UK
The EU Legislative process

Electoral principles
 General
 Direct
 Secret
 Equal
 Free
Voting methods to determine representation
1.First Past The Post is a “plurality” voting system: the candidate who wins the most votes in each
constituency is elected. their first preference, voters may then choose to express further preferences
for as many, or as few, candidates as they wish. The count begins by allocating votes in line with first
preferences.
Westimenter,US,India.
2.Single Transferable Vote - Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in
which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot.
Ireland ,Scottish Local Elections, Northem Ireland Assembly, Malta
3.Additional Member System- The additional member system (AMS) is a mixed electoral system
under which most representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and the other
"additional members" are elected to make the seat distribution in the chamber more proportional to
the way votes are cast for party lists.
Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament, Germany, New Zeeland
4.Alternative Vote Plus- is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was devised by the 1998 Jenkins
Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the
Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Nowhere
5.Two-Round System- In both rounds of an election conducted using runoff voting, the voter simply
marks their preferred candidate. If no candidate has an absolute majority of votes (i.e. more than half)
in the first round, then the two candidates with the most votes proceed to a second round, from which
all others are excluded.
Presidents of many countries, France
6.Alternative vote- The voter puts a number by each candidate, with a one for their favourite, two for
their second favourite and so on. They can put numbers on as many or as few as they wish.
Australia, Irish President

The relevance of the legal profession to law-making

 Advocating the ethics & practicalities of using the law
Practicing lawyers
Non-practicing lawyers

 Conflict of interest (client duty vs fiduciary responsibility)

 At least three conflicts of interest areas

1)legislative efforts
2) lobbying
3) legal appearances on behalf of clients

 Cure:
o Interpretation in courts of law?
o More Laws?
o More training in ethics?