SOURCES OF LEGISLATION

SOURCES OF LEGISLATION

Private Members:
Sources of ideas for legislation are unlimited and proposed drafts of bills originate in many diverse quarters. Primary among these is the idea and draft conceived by a Member. This may emanate from the election campaign during which the Member had promised, if elected, to introduce legislation on a particular subject. The Member may have also become aware after taking office of the need for amendment to or repeal of an existing law or the enactment of a statute in an entirely new field. In addition, the Member’s constituents, either as individuals or through citizen groups, may avail themselves of the right to petition and transmit their proposals to the Member.

Interest Groups/Associations:
These include professional associations, Labour Unions, Medical Associations, Teachers Unions as well as Chambers of Commerce. Their primary concern is to protect the interest of their members. Many excellent laws have originated in this way, some of these organizations, because of their vital concern with various areas of legislation, have considerable knowledge regarding the laws affecting their interests and hire the services of legislative draftspersons for this purpose. If favourably impressed by the idea being propounded by the interest group or association, a Member may introduce or sponsor the proposal in the form in which it has been submitted or may redraft it.

The Executive Arm:
The bulk of the Laws of the Federation emanated from the executive arm of government. The executive is the most fertile source of legislative proposals. This takes the form of a letter from the President himself, transmitting a draft of the proposed bill to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It is the responsibility of the Senate Majority Leader or the House Majority Leader to introduce legislative proposals to either House of the National Assembly. Changes to the bill are made in the course of further legislative actions on the Bill by both Houses of the National Assembly. Usually Ministers determine the scope, content and extent of a draft proposal while the details are the responsibility of civil servants to work out. Series of consultations and deliberations take place in the course of preparing a draft proposal to the National Assembly and upon approval of the final draft by the President’s cabinet, the final copy is then forwarded to the Presiding Officers of the National Assembly for legislative action.

The Judiciary:
The Judiciary seldom sends bills to the National Assembly for passage into law, nevertheless in deserving cases the Chief Justice of the Federation forwards such bills under a covering letter signed by him to the President of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The Judiciary strictly speaking and going by the doctrine of separation of powers do not originate laws their primary duty is to interpret laws made by the legislature. However in the cause of interpretation of the law, the judiciary do at times make some pronouncements which alters the provisions of the law or sometimes renders nugatory a particular piece of legislation. This is known as case law and by the doctrine of stare decisis all inferior courts are bound to follow the decisions of superior courts. An example is the Public Order Act which the Court of Appeal held in the case of IGP v. ANPP that it is inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution, until that position is over turned by the Supreme Court, that law stands suspended. Again in Attorney General Federation v. Attorney General Abia State (2002) 16 WRN 1 the Supreme Court held that any imposition on the Federation Account not specifically provided for in Section 162 of the Constitution is null and void. Consequently the provision of Section 1 (d) of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Accounts etc.) Act Cap 16 imposing charges on the Federation Account not provided for in Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution was declared invalid. The legislature may in situations like these amend the provisions of an existing law to reflect the court’s pronouncement or amend the law to over ride the court’s pronouncement thereby giving rise to a new legislation.