A special law is a type of legislation.

Belgium

A special law, or qualified majority law, is a type of

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

which requires a

qualified majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

in both chambers of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...

Belgian Federal Parliament The Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives ( Dutch: , french: Chambre des Représentants, german: Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate ( Dutch: , french: Sénat, german: Senat). ...

to be adopted, amended or repealed. The

Belgian Constitution The Constitution of Belgium ( nl, Belgische Grondwet, french: Constitution belge, german: Verfassung Belgiens) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility ...

determines which laws require a qualified or special

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webstercommunities and regions of Belgium. One of the best known examples is the Special Law of 8 August 1980 on the Reform of the Institutions. A special law must be adopted by both the Chamber of Representatives and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in accordance with Article 4, last paragraph, of the

, which provides that a special law requires a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

-speaking and the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-speaking language group, on the condition that an absolute majority of the members of each language group is present, and the total number of votes in favour in both language groups must constitute a

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

of two-thirds of the total number of votes cast.

Canada

In Canada, in the event of

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the ...

(s) and/or lockouts, federal or provincial governments can enact "Back-to-work legislation", a special law, which blocks the strike action and/or lockout from continuing. It can also impose

binding arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...

or a new contract on the disputing parties. Such legislation was enacted during the 2011

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operat ...

strike and the 2012 CP Rail strike, thus effectively ending these strikes as legal actions. On the provincial level, similar acts can be passed for other purposes; the National Assembly of Quebec enacted Act 78 in 2012 in order to quell a series of student protests.

Spain

The concept of

organic law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law for a sovereign state. By country France Under Articl ...

is similar to the Belgian case.

Sweden

The law stating how the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

functions can only be changed by a qualified majority. Belgian legislation Canadian legislation Law of Spain Law of Sweden {{Quebec-stub