Part of Ways and Means. – in the House of Commons at on 1 October 1941.
Mr Francis Douglas
, Battersea North
I beg to move, in page 16, line 25, to leave out Subsection (1).
This Clause does something which is obnoxious to the spirit of English law, that is, to place upon a person the obligation of proving that he is innocent of a criminal offence before placing the onus of proof upon the prosecutor. I think it is a great pity that such a Clause should be inserted in a Bill, above all in a Bill of this character. The legal profession themselves admit that it is a very exceptional circumstance. Under the law of our country people are not required to prove their innocence before an endeavour has been made to prove their guilt. It is a practice which obtains in certain cases, but they are very exceptional ones, and I do not think Parliament has ever liked that principle or had any desire to extend it. Although in this case it may be for the convenience of solicitors that such a high-handed practice should be adopted, I hope the Committee will not agree to it, and that those in the Committee who are responsible for the promotion of the Bill will see the wisdom of not pressing this proposal.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
