Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Navy. – in the House of Commons at on 5 May 1919.
Mr Alexander Richardson
, Gravesend
asked the Prime Minister if, in view of the Government promise to introduce a Bill for the prevention of dumping, he will furnish a statement giving the principal provisions of the Laws or regulations in force in our Dominions and Colonies and in foreign countries for the prevention of dumping?
Sir Auckland Geddes
, Basingstoke
A summary statement of the legislative provisions in force in Canada, the Union of South Africa, the Commonwealth of Australia, and the United States will be issued as a white paper at an early date.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
A document issued by the Government laying out its policy, or proposed policy, on a topic of current concern.Although a white paper may occasion consultation as to the details of new legislation, it does signify a clear intention on the part of a government to pass new law. This is a contrast with green papers, which are issued less frequently, are more open-ended and may merely propose a strategy to be implemented in the details of other legislation.
More from wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper
