Hello, my name's Ms. Wyatt, and I'm so glad you could be here with us today.

Welcome to our lesson.

Today's lesson is looking at "How are laws made? Criminal Versus Civil Law" from the unit "What is the law and how is it changed?" By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how laws are made in England and describe the difference between criminal and civil law.

We have some ground rules in today's lesson.

Laura is going to give us the first one.

Laura says, "To listen to others." She said, "It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

When disagreeing, challenge the statement, not the person." So make sure that we're listening to others and giving our respect and our time to others.

Even if we disagree with what the person is saying, we need to challenge what they're saying, not the person.

Let's not make it personal.

Andeep says, "Respect privacy.

We can discuss examples, but do not use names or descriptions that identify anyone, including ourselves." So we can speak from experience.

However, we won't name names.

Izzy says, "Choose level of participation.

Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or join discussion.

We never put anyone on the spot." And finally, Jacob says, "No judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without fear of being judged." So there's no room for judgement here in this lesson.

So we have some ground rules due to the sensitivity of the topic, and I'm hoping that you are mature enough to follow them.

We have some key words that we will be using in today's lesson, and some of these words may be new to you, but don't worry, as I am here to guide you.

We have law, parliament, civil law, and criminal law.

Law are rules usually made by parliaments that are used to order the way in which a society behaves.

Parliament is the body that makes laws in the UK.

It's made with the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the monarch.

For us in the UK, that is the king or the queen.

Civil law is the law that deals with disputes between individuals or groups.

And criminal law is the law that deals with individuals who break the law and seek to punish an offence because the offender has broken laws that Parliament has stated we must obey.

Our lesson is broken up into two parts today.

The first part, we're going to start by looking at, how do we make and change laws in England.

And the second part, we will look at, how our civil and criminal law different.

So when you are ready, let's get started.

Imagine a society that is changing.

Perhaps a new government has just been elected on a manifesto to change policies, or campaigners have been taking action to get a law changed.

What might the change look like? JUn says, "Perhaps a group of worried parents are campaigning to get the law changed.

So you can't have a smartphone until you're 14." Wonder what you think about that one.

And Sam says, "Or a group of students are campaigning to change the law, raising the minimum driving age to 18." Change and taking action to get a law changed can be different.

Can you think of any examples of when the law has changed? Let's pause for a second.

And do we know or have we seen in the media when the law has changed? Sam says, "The Health and Care Act of 2022 introduced a rule that stops adverts for unhealthy food and drinks on TV before 9:00 PM and bans paid adverts for these products online all day." So I wonder if you recognised in 2022 that the unhealthy food and drink adverts has stopped appearing on your TV before 9:00 PM, and any paid advert was banned online all day.

What impact do you think that these changes might have had? What impact would they have had? What impact would it have had for unhealthy food and drinks being banned on TV before 9:00 PM, and the impact that paid adverts were banned for these sort of products for all day online? What impact do you think that might have had? Would it have been a positive impact? Think about the time.

It's 9:00 PM.

what time do you roughly go to sleep? When do you shut off the TV? When do most people turn off the TV to sort of unwind for bed? What impact do you think that might have had? Jun says, "But who makes the law in England? And who can get it changed?" Do we know this? Who makes the law in England? Well, most laws in England are made by parliament.

Parliament is also known as the legislature.

Legislature just means the group of people in a country or part of a country who have the power to make and change the laws.

Parliament has two chambers also known as Houses.

We have the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Now we're gonna look into these a little bit further.

June says, "What do they do?" So the House of Commons is the elected part of Parliament.

It has 650 members of Parliament, also known as MPs.

MPs are chosen in a general election by people in their local area called a constituency.

Their job is to represent the people.

They debate issues and vote on changes to the law and public policy.

MPs can also propose new laws.

You might have seen recordings of the House of Commons quite a lot on social media if they're debating something that's quite topical.

And then we have the House of Laws.

The House of Laws is unelected.

Its members are chosen by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister.

There are about 800 members called peers, mostly chosen for their knowledge and experience.

26 archbishops and bishops from the Church of England also sit in the House of Lords, and they are known as the lords spiritual.

So this is chosen by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

So they're different.

So let's check our understanding.

Which of the following is true about the two Houses in Parliament? Is it A, the House of Commons is elected and has 650 MPs while the House of Lords is unelected and has around 800 peers? Is it B, the House of Commons and the House of Lords are both elected and have the same amount of members? Or is it C, the House of Lords is elected and the House of Commons is unelected, one has 650 members and the other 800? So let's pause the video and let's think which of the following is true about the two Houses in Parliament.

Okay, let's check our answers.

Hopefully we said A.

It's true that the House of Commons is elected and has 650 MPs while the house of Lord is unelected and has around 800 peers.

Well done if you got that correct.

A proposal for a new law is called a bill.

Bills are usually introduced by the government, but can also be introduced by MPs.

A bill must pass through many stages before it can become a law, and it can take a long time for it to actually become a law.

A bill will go through at least three readings in each House, so in the House of Laws and the House of Commons.

if one house suggests a change to the bill, it goes back to the other house to check the changes.

This can happen several times and it's sometimes called parliamentary ping pong.

So when it comes across as a proposal for a new law, this is known as a bill, and the bill will go back and forth between the House of Lord and the House of Commons every time there is a suggested change to the bill.

So this can take a long time.

The monarchy.

So Parliament also has a third part, which is the monarch.

Before a bill becomes a law, it needs royal assent where the monarch officially approves it.

So for us in the UK, that is the king.

After this, the bill becomes an act of parliament and is a law.

Royal assent is just a formality.

The last time a monarch refused it was in 1708, so a very, very long time ago.

So before a bill becomes a law, what does it need from the monarch? Can we remember? Does it need a A, public vote? Does it need B, parliamentary approval? Or C, Royal assent? Or D, a signature from the prime minister? Can you remember what a bill needs before it becomes a law? What does it need to have from the monarch? Hopefully we're all saying the royal assent.

It needs C, a royal assent.

Your MP's job is to represent you even if you can't vote yet or if you didn't vote for them.

They speak for you and everyone in their constituency.

Everyone has a chance to shape the law and have their say through their MP.

Sam says, "For example, after years of campaigning by the public and health organisations, the UK government passed the Health Act in 2006, which made it illegal to smoke in indoor public places, like restaurants and offices, offices." So years of campaigning, people were asking for this to come into law.

Some people didn't want it to come into law.

But after years of campaigning, the government finally passed the Health Act of 2006.

So let's check our understanding.

Can we fill in the missing words? So, it says your MP's job is to something you, even if you can't something yet.

They speak for you and everyone in their constituency.

Everyone has a chance to shape the something and have their say through their MP.

So can we pause the video and can we try and remember what the missing words were in our sentences? Good luck.

Hopefully we have remembered some, if not all, of the missing words.

So we should have, your MP's job is to represent you, even if you can't vote yet.

They speak for you and everyone in their constituency.

Everyone has the chance to shape the law and have their say through their MP.

Well done if you remembered all three words.

Excellent efforts.

Our task is to now match the words to their definitions.

So we have Bill, House of Commons, House of Lords, royal assent, MP, and act of parliament, and we need to match the words up to their definitions on the right-hand side.

So can we pause the video and have a go at doing our very best to match the words to their definitions? Enjoy.

Well done, everyone.

So let's go through our answers and matching the words to their definitions.

So the first word we had was bill.

So hopefully we knew that a bill is a proposal for a new law that has to pass through many stages.

House of Commons is the elected part of Parliament made up of 650 MPs.

The House of Lords is an unelected part of Parliament with about 800 members, including bishops.

Royal assent is the final approval needed from the monarch for a bill to become a law.

MP is a representative elected by people in their local area to represent their views in parliament, which leaves us with an act of parliament creates a new law or a change to an existing law.

So well done if we matched all of the words to their correct definitions.

Great job.

We have now looked at how do we make and change laws in England, and we are ready to move on to how are civil and criminal law different.

So there are two main categories of law in England.

There is criminal law and there is civil law.

What do you think the difference is? It's not only is there a difference in the words, but what do we think the difference is between these two main categories of law in England? So criminal law deals with actions that break the law and harm society.

If you break criminal law, you have committed a crime.

Examples of offences under criminal law could include murder, theft, criminal damage, and assault, with many more actions and examples of offences that come under criminal law.

Civil law handles disputes between people.

A civil law case is normally brought before court when an individual feels damage has been done to them by someone else.

Examples of civil law offences could include noise disputes.

So you've made very, very loud noise or you persistently have a noisy neighbour for instance.

Disputes between neighbours, compensation following an injury, and divorce.

So civil law deals with disputes between people.

Sam says, "So criminal law is used for more serious crimes, stuff like murder, theft, and assault, and civil law deals with everything else." Jun says, "No, criminal law deals with crimes that affect society, and civil law deals with disputes between individuals.

Criminal law deals with all sorts of offences, be it murder, theft, speed, and drink driving, or even littering." So what we don't want you to do is think that criminal law is used for the serious stuff and civil law deals with everything else.

That would be a misconception, which is what Sam has.

But John has helped us clear it up for her, and said that criminal law deals with crimes that affect society, and civil law deals with disputes between individuals.

So true or false.

Criminal law is used when two people have a disagreement.

Is that true or is it false? Hopefully we remembered that it is false.

It's false because criminal law is for actions that harm society while civil law handles disagreements between people.

Well done if you got that correct.

Which of the following is true about criminal law? A, criminal law only deals with very serious crimes like murder.

B, criminal law can also deal with less serious offences like shoplifting.

C, criminal law is only for crimes that happen in public places.

D, criminal law is only for crimes that happen during the night.

Which of the following is true? Let's check our answers.

So we should have said B.

Criminal law can also deal with less serious offences like shoplifting.

It doesn't always have to be extreme crimes.

Well done if you got that right.

In our criminal law case, the person accused of a crime is called the defendant.

The person that is being accused of the crime is a defendant.

It is the government through the Crown Prosecution Service, or also known as the CPS, who brings a criminal law case to court.

If someone is found guilty, they can receive a range of different sentences such as fines, community service, or a custodial prison sentence.

In a civil law case, the person who brings the case is called the claimant.

The person being accused is still called the defendant.

If the claimant wins their case, they can receive money called damages.

So let's check our understanding so far.

Can we fill in the missing word in each sentence? So we have six sentences, and can we have a go at trying to fill in the missing word for each sentence? So pause the video here, read through the sentences, and try and work out what could be our missing words.

Good luck.

Okay, hopefully we've had enough time to do this now.

So let's check our understanding.

First sentence.

In a criminal law case, the person accused of a crime is called the defendant.

Well done if you remembered that.

The government brings a criminal law case to court.

In a civil law case, the person who brings the case to court is called the claimant.

The person being accused in a civil law case is called the defendant.

In a civil law case, you can be awarded damages, which is money.

In a criminal law case, you can receive lots of different types of sentences, which is the punishment.

For this task, I would like us to read the examples below.

And then for each example, decide if it would be categorised as criminal law or civil law.

So I'm going to read the examples to us.

So a person smuggles class A drugs into the country hidden in their car.

A person is angry and punches a shop window breaking it.

A couple's marriage has ended and they have decided to divorce.

A person trips on a wobbly paving slab in the street and breaks their arm.

A person steals a wallet from someone's bag on a crowded bus.

And a person hires someone to fix their roof, but the work isn't done properly.

The leaking roof causes damage.

So we need to decide if the following examples would be criminal law or civil law.

So pause the video and have a good go at this task.

Okay, let's go through our answers.

So for criminal law, we should have recognised that the following examples are a person smuggles class A drugs into the country hidden in their car, a person is angry and punches a shop window breaking it, and a person steals a wallet from someone's bag on a crowded bus.

For civil law, we should have recognised that a person trips on a wobbly paving slab in the street and breaks their arm, a couple's marriage has ended and they have decided to divorce, and a person hires someone to fix their roof, but the work isn't done properly.

The leaking roof causes the damage.

So that's civil law examples of law disputes between people.

So Weldon, if you got those correct, we have now come to the end of our lesson.

I would like to summarise it into a few sentences for us.

Most laws in England are made by parliament, which consists of three parts, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the monarchy.

A proposal for a new law is called a bill.

Bills are usually introduced by the government and must go through several stages, including three readings in each House before reaching royal assent to become law.

There are two main categories of law in England.

Criminal law, which deals with actions that harm society, for example, theft.

And civil law, which handles disputes between individuals, for example, noise complaints.

I have really enjoyed learning with you this lesson.

I hope you've learned a lot about how laws are made and the difference between criminal and civil law.

I hope to see you in the next one.

Bye-bye.