Law Weblog

R (on the application of Jackson and others) v Attorney General (2005) DC

Thursday 3 February 2005 at 5:03 pm | In News | Post Comment

[Statutory interpretation – meaning of “Parliament” – lawfulness of the Hunting Act 2004 and the Parliament Act 1911 Delegated legislation – an Act of Parliament cannot be so categorised]
C representing a pro-fox-hunting group obtained Judicial Review of the Hunting Act 2004, seeking to have it declared unlawful. The Hunting Act went straight from the Commons to Royal Assent, by-passing the Lords using the Parliament Act 1949, which itself was made under the Parliament Act 1911. None of these three acts was made with the consent of the Lords.

Held:
1) An Act of Parliament did not have to include the Lords. Interpreting the 1911 Act (particularly the preamble) which includes the word ‘Parliament’. As the Parliament Act 1949 was a lawful statute validly made under the Parliament Act 1911 the Hunting Act 2004 was also lawful.
The 1911 Act expressly refers to ‘any Public Bill’ which was deliberately wide and there is no exclusion. The word ‘Parliament’ did not have a strict meaning and included an absence of the Lords.
2) The 1911 Act was not delegated legislation, it was itself an Act of Parliament – nothing less. It was erroneous to characterise any Act of Parliament as ‘delegated legislation’. There are two routes through which Acts of Parliament could be enacted: the traditional way involving the Sovereign, the House of Commons and the House of Lords and the 1911 Act way emanating from the Sovereign and the House of Commons.

C lost.