Bill which proposes a law affecting only limited individuals or entities
Proposed
bills
are often categorized into
public bills
and
private bills
. A public bill is a proposed
law
which would apply to everyone within its
jurisdiction
. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or area, such as a bill granting a named person
citizenship
or, previously, granting named persons a legislative
divorce
.
Private law can afford relief from another law, grant a unique benefit or powers not available under the general law, or relieve someone from legal responsibility for some allegedly wrongful act. There are many examples of such private law in
democratic
countries, although its use has changed over time. A private bill is not to be confused with a
private member's bill
, which is a bill introduced by a "private member" of the legislature rather than by the
ministry
.
In modern practice, private bills are mixed and have both private and public aspects. In such cases the proposed legislation is called a
hybrid bill
.
[1]
Some public laws set out such narrow terms of applicability that they apply to only one person or organization, making them
de facto
private laws. This may be used (successfully or unsuccessfully) to get around prohibitions on certain kinds of public laws.
United Kingdom
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Public bills are the most common bills introduced in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
. If they are enacted, they become
public general acts
(in contrast with
local and personal acts
).
Private bills create two types of act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The first are acts for the benefit of individuals (known as private or personal acts) which have historically often dealt with divorces or granting British nationality to foreigners, but in modern times are generally limited to authorising marriages which would otherwise not be legal.
[2]
The most recent such act was made in 1987.
The second type are public acts for the benefit of organisations, or authorising major projects such as railways or canals, or granting extra powers to
local authorities
(known as local acts).
[3]
Private bills were used in the nineteenth century to create
corporations
and grant
monopolies
. They are still used in relation to large infrastructure projects, such as HS2, where law is being created primarily to give effect to rights and powers being exercised by a private (even if largely state owned) entity.
[4]
There is another classification known as a
hybrid instrument
which shares characteristics of both public and private bills. Hybrid bills become public acts.
Canada
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Divorce
in
Canada
prior to the passage of the
Divorce Act of 1968
was sometimes handled by private laws.
[5]
If unavailable by administrative or judicial means, it was possible to obtain a legislative divorce by application to the
Senate of Canada
, which reviewed and investigated
petitions
for divorce, which would then be voted upon by the Senate and subsequently made into law.
United States
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Public bills are the most common type of law in the United States.
The
Constitution of the United States
prohibits
bills of attainder
in both state and federal legislatures, meaning private laws cannot be used to punish any specific individual or organization. This does not prohibit private laws which are favorable to a person or corporation.
In the United States, private bills were previously common. However, federal agencies are now able to deal with most of the issues that were previously dealt with under private bills as these agencies have been granted sufficient discretion by the
United States Congress
to deal with exceptions to the general legislative scheme of various laws. The kinds of private bills that are still introduced include grants of
citizenship
to individuals who are otherwise ineligible for normal
visa
processing; alleviation of tax liabilities; armed services decorations; and veteran benefits.
See also
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References
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External links
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