Why entrench?

Most of the time the rules that determine the process by which an institution makes law are constant across the range of its law-making activities. Amongst other things, these rules set the quorum for the body, the number of times it must consider and vote on a proposal, and the number of office-hol...

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Main Author: Barber, N
Format: Journal article
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
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author Barber, N
author_facet Barber, N
author_sort Barber, N
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description Most of the time the rules that determine the process by which an institution makes law are constant across the range of its law-making activities. Amongst other things, these rules set the quorum for the body, the number of times it must consider and vote on a proposal, and the number of office-holders in the institution who must approve the measure before it becomes law. Though the body may make decisions on many different areas of law, these procedural rules – what we might describe as the institution’s default rules – remain the same. These rules should have been chosen for good reasons; they should help the institution succeed in its constitutional role, and, consequently, departure from them requires an explanation. Why, in this instance, not apply the default rules? This paper considers situations in which law-making has been rendered harder: situations in which an area of law has been entrenched, and an institution must engage in a special and more arduous process to change the law.
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spelling oxford-uuid:650ffb0a-e6fa-48a5-8ad3-35285cafc6d72022-03-26T18:23:07ZWhy entrench?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:650ffb0a-e6fa-48a5-8ad3-35285cafc6d7Symplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2016Barber, NMost of the time the rules that determine the process by which an institution makes law are constant across the range of its law-making activities. Amongst other things, these rules set the quorum for the body, the number of times it must consider and vote on a proposal, and the number of office-holders in the institution who must approve the measure before it becomes law. Though the body may make decisions on many different areas of law, these procedural rules – what we might describe as the institution’s default rules – remain the same. These rules should have been chosen for good reasons; they should help the institution succeed in its constitutional role, and, consequently, departure from them requires an explanation. Why, in this instance, not apply the default rules? This paper considers situations in which law-making has been rendered harder: situations in which an area of law has been entrenched, and an institution must engage in a special and more arduous process to change the law.
spellingShingle Barber, N
Why entrench?
title Why entrench?
title_full Why entrench?
title_fullStr Why entrench?
title_full_unstemmed Why entrench?
title_short Why entrench?
title_sort why entrench
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