Lesson plan
Probing amendment
In legislative debate, a probing amendment is an amendment tabled by a legislator without the intention of seeing the amendment carried. The purpose of proposing the amendment is to provide an opportunity for discussion of a specific point. Britain's former sectoral regulator for the telecommunications industry, Oftel, explains that "MPs may put down a probing amendment, which means they want to know what the Government's thinking is on a particular clause, rather than necessarily wanting to change the clause." In Parliamentary systems the purpose of a probing amendment on a government-sponsored Bill can be to seek assurances from Ministers about the purpose of the legislation, or how the government intends to use powers given to it under the legislation. An assurance commonly sought is that the government will create Codes of Practice, or other rules with less than full legal force, to provide clarity and restraint not present on the face of the Bill. In some legal systems the courts will use statements made in the legislature to interpret legislative intent, provided the statements are sufficiently precise and the legislation legitimately open to multiple constructions. In such systems, legislators sometimes table probing amendments to provide an opportunity that such statements of intent can be made with the requisite precision.
Article summary
In legislative debate, a probing amendment is an amendment tabled by a legislator without the intention of seeing the amendment carried. The purpose of proposing the amendment is to provide an opportunity for discussion of a specific point. Britain's former sectoral regulator for the telecommunications industry, Oftel, explains that "MPs may put down a probing amendment, which means they want to know what the Government's thinking is on a particular clause, rather than necessarily wanting to change the clause." In Parliamentary systems the purpose of a probing amendment on a government-sponsored Bill can be to seek assurances from Ministers about the purpose of the legislation, or how the government intends to use powers given to it under the legislation. An assurance commonly sought is that the government will create Codes of Practice, or other rules with less than full legal force, to provide clarity and restraint not present on the face of the Bill. In some legal systems the courts will use statements made in the legislature to interpret legislative intent, provided the statements are sufficiently precise and the legislation legitimately open to multiple constructions. In such systems, legislators sometimes table probing amendments to provide an opportunity that such statements of intent can be made with the requisite precision.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.