VPRS 14558 Acts of Parliament

An Act is a Bill that has been passed by both houses of Parliament, received Royal Assent from the Queen (represented by the Governor) and become law. The five key steps involved in making a law are:1) Policy Development - the complex process by which ideals, ideas and practical needs are formalised and expressed in party or Independent Members' policies.2) Draft Bill stage - the conversion of party (usually, though not exclusively, Government) policy into a series of statements and clauses that will eventually be placed before Parliament as a Bill. For the Government this task is undertaken by Cabinet.The technical detail of each clause is drafted by Parliamentary Counsel. The Public Service can also recommend administrative changes to the relevant Minister. When the draft Bill is expressed in a form acceptable to the Parliamentary party, it can be introduced into the Parliament.3) Parliamentary Processes - generally a Bill may be initiated in either House of the Parliament of Victoria although in practice most Bills originate in the Lower House. All financial Bills must be introduced in the Legislative Assembly.A distinction is made between a Government Bill, introduced by the appropriate Minister, and a Private Member's Bill, brought on by an Opposition, Independent, or Government backbench member.Examination of the Bill is then conducted in three formal stages, or "readings":Permission to introduce a Bill into Parliament and to proceed with it is obtained in the First Reading. No debate is allowed.In the Second Reading, some time after the First Reading, the principles but not the details of the Bill are debated.If at this stage the House decides to examine the Bill's clauses it has the option of proceeding to what is termed the Committee Stage of a Bill in which all Members (a Committee of the Whole) scrutinise and, if they decide, amend the Bill's clauses. That is, the Bill is committed.Occasionally, Bills are instead referred to a Select Committee for examination.After the committee phase the Chairman of Committees reports to the chamber on the status of the Bill. Usually the House has the option either of considering the Bill further in Committee or passing on to the third and final reading.The committee stage is not compulsory. When Bills are considered uncontroversial or are of a minor nature, the House may choose to avoid the committee stage and pass directly to the third and final stage of parliamentary examination.At the Third Reading, further debate may be permitted, but this is restricted and rarely resorted to. The Bill is then passed.When the Bill has passed the house of origin it is transmitted to the other Chamber where an identical scrutiny procedure is followed. Amendments may be made or suggested in which case messages pass between the two houses until unanimity is achieved.The Bill is now expressed in identical terms, agreed upon and accepted by both houses. When this occurs the parliamentary process is concluded.4) Royal Assent - the Queen, represented by the Governor, approves the Bill. It is now referred to as an Act of Parliament. (Further records relating to the passage of Acts through this stage can be found in VPRS 7584 Acts Given Royal Assent, VPRS 7585 Proclamations of Royal Assent and VPRS 14559 Acts Withheld from Royal Assent.)5) Commencement - the time from which the law, as specified in the Act of Parliament, applies. In Victoria this occurs on a day specified in the Act or if the Act so provides, on a day proclaimed by the Governor or if not otherwise stated, 28 days after Royal Assent.(The above description is taken from http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/law.html)Acts are sometimes referred to as Statute Law. This is law made by Parliament, expressed in an Act.Until the end of 1985, each Act was identified by a number and long title (ie No. 5111, An Act to provide for Annual Holidays for Workers and for other purposes). From the start of 1986, an annual single number system was used. Therefore each Act was identified by its number, year and long title (i.e., Act No. 68/1992, Public Sector Management Act 1992). Frequently in its first section, an Act is also identified by a short title (This Act may be cited as the Factories and Shops (Annual Holidays) Act 1946).The remaining sections of an Act outline the law that is being created, including the creation of government bodies and their responsibilities under the Act, and penalties for its contravention. An Act may be accompanied by schedules, outlining, for example, pay scales of public servants affected by the Act or the division of land into zones for the purpose of an Act. A date of commencement may be specified in the Act, on which its provisions take effect, otherwise it commences on a day specified by the Governor, or 28 days after Royal Assent.From time to time, Acts which had undergone frequent revisions were consolidated. This is the process by which repetitions, contradictions, redundancies and obsolescence are eliminated and the law is unified into a coherent, mutually-reinforcing whole. In 1864-1865 the first of five consolidations of Victorian law took place. Further consolidations took place in 1890, 1915, 1929, and 1958. (www.parliament.vic.gov.au)The Acts were signed by the Governor of Victoria and the Clerk of the Parliament.法案（Act）系指经议会两院审议通过、获得由总督代表的君主御准（Royal Assent）并正式成为法律的条例草案（Bill）。立法需历经五大核心步骤： 1. 政策制定（Policy Development）：将理念、构想与现实需求系统化梳理，并转化为政党或独立议员的政策主张的复杂流程。 2. 条例草案草拟阶段（Draft Bill Stage）：将政党（通常为执政党，但亦不排除其他主体）的政策转化为一系列陈述与条款，最终以条例草案（Bill）的形式提交议会的流程。对于执政党而言，此项工作由内阁（Cabinet）负责。各条款的技术细节由议会法律顾问（Parliamentary Counsel）草拟，公共服务部门亦可向相关部长提出行政调整建议。当条例草案的文本获得议会政党认可后，即可提交议会审议。 3. 议会审议流程（Parliamentary Processes）：原则上，条例草案（Bill）可在维多利亚州议会的任一议院提出，但实际运作中绝大多数条例草案均源自众议院（Lower House）。所有财政类条例草案必须在立法会（Legislative Assembly）提出。 根据提案主体的不同，条例草案可分为执政党法案（Government Bill）与私人议员法案（Private Member's Bill）：前者由相应部长提出，后者则由反对党议员、独立议员或执政党后座议员发起。 条例草案的审议需历经三项正式程序，即“三读”（readings）： 一读（First Reading）：获得提交条例草案并启动审议程序的许可，此阶段不允许进行辩论。 二读（Second Reading）：于一读之后的某个时段，对条例草案的基本原则而非具体条款进行辩论。 若本院在二读阶段决定对条例草案的具体条款进行审议，可选择进入法案委员会审议阶段（Committee Stage of a Bill）：全体议员组成全院委员会（Committee of the Whole），对各条款进行详细审查，并可根据表决结果对条款作出修正。此流程即意味着条例草案进入审议承诺程序。在少数情况下，条例草案也可被提交至专门委员会（Select Committee）进行审查。 委员会审议阶段结束后，全院委员会主席需向本院汇报条例草案的审议进展。通常情况下，本院可选择在全院委员会中继续审议条例草案，或直接进入第三读（即最后一读）程序。 委员会审议阶段并非强制流程。若条例草案被认定为无争议或性质轻微，本院可直接跳过委员会审议阶段，直接进入议会审议的第三及最终阶段。 三读（Third Reading）阶段可允许就条例草案进行进一步辩论，但此类辩论受到严格限制且极少被采用。完成三读后，条例草案即获本院通过。 条例草案获原议院通过后，将移交至另一议院，由其遵循相同的审议流程进行审查。在此阶段可对条例草案提出或作出修正案，两院需就此往复沟通，直至达成一致意见。此时条例草案的文本将统一为两院均认可的相同版本，经两院一致通过后，议会审议流程即告终结。 4. 御准（Royal Assent）：由总督代表君主对条例草案予以批准，此时条例草案正式成为议会法案（Act of Parliament）。（与该阶段法案通过相关的档案记录可查阅VPRS 7584《御准法案》、VPRS 7585《御准公告》及VPRS 14559《未获御准法案》。） 5. 生效实施（Commencement）：议会法案（Act of Parliament）所规定的法律开始生效的时间。在维多利亚州，法案的生效日期可分为三类：一是法案中明确指定的日期；二是若法案授权总督发布公告指定生效日，则以该公告指定的日期为准；三是若法案未作任何相关规定，则以御准之日起第28日作为生效日期。（上述描述源自http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/law.html） 议会法案（Act）有时也被称为成文法（Statute Law），即由议会通过法案制定的法律。 1985年底之前，每项议会法案均以编号与全称进行标识（例如第5111号《工人年假及其他相关事项法案》）。自1986年起，维多利亚州采用年度单一编号体系，每项法案的标识由编号、年份与全称共同组成（例如1992年第68号《公共部门管理法案》）。此外，多数法案的第一条条款中会载明简称，例如“本法案可被引用为《1946年工厂与商店（年假）法案》”。 法案的其余条款将对所创设的法律规则作出详细规定，包括设立政府机构并明确其在本法项下的职责，以及对违反本法的行为设定处罚措施。法案可附带附表（schedules），例如附表可载明受本法约束的公务员薪酬等级，或为实施本法而对土地进行的分区规划。法案可明确规定其条款的生效日期，若未作明确规定，则生效日期为总督指定的日期，或御准之日起第28日。 维多利亚州会定期对经过多次修订的法案进行法典编纂（consolidation）：该流程旨在消除重复规定、矛盾表述、冗余条款与过时内容，将法律整合为一套连贯统一、相互呼应的完整体系。1864至1865年，维多利亚州完成了五次法律编纂中的首次编纂工作，后续分别于1890年、1915年、1929年及1958年开展了后续编纂。（信息源自www.parliament.vic.gov.au） 所有议会法案均需由维多利亚州总督与议会书记员签署生效。