The ban on hunting foxes with dogs in England and Wales is legal, a London court has ruled. The High Court rejected a challenge to the Hunting Act by members of pro-hunting group Countryside Alliance, which argued the legislation wasn't validly adopted by Parliament. The Parliament Act of 1949 allows the elected Commons to pass laws that the House of Lords has rejected in two successive parliamentary sessions. A previous 1911 version of the Act required three unsuccessful tries through the unelected upper chamber.
The Parliament Act has been used to pass only three other laws -- the law equalizing the age of consent between heterosexuals and homosexuals; the War Crimes Act in 1991, which extended the jurisdiction of British courts to cover acts committed on behalf of Nazi Germany during the Second World War; and a law that introduced a proportional representation voting system for elections to the European Parliament.
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