Advantages and Disadvantages of Delegated Legislation Flashcards
What are the 4 main advantages of delegated legislation?
- Saves Parliamentary Time
- Allows consultation
- Need for technical expertise
- Acts of Parliament would otherwise take a long time
Why do Parliament not have time to consider and debate all regulations?
as many have small details which are too complex
What is it impossible to expect from MP’s?
impossible to expect them to have all the necessary knowledge to draw up laws on controlling various issues
What are examples of issue which are impossible for MP’s to have all the necessary knowledge to draw up laws on?
- technology
- ensuring environmental safety
- dealing with a vast array of different industrial problems
- operating complex taxation schemes
What is it better for Parliament to debate leaving the detail to experts?
to debate the main principles thoroughly
Why is consultation important for rules on technical matters ?
as it is necessary to make sure that the regulations are technically workable
Who can benefit from further consultation before regulations are drawn up?
Ministers
What is the main criticism of delegated legislation?
that it takes law-making away from the democratically elected House of Commons and allows non-elected people to make law
Why is it especially unacceptable that delegated legislation allows unelected people to make law?
as Parliament’s control of delegated legislation is limited
What are not included in the main criticism of unelected people making law?
Bylaws made by local authorities since these are elected by local citizens
What is sub-delegation?
this means that the law-making authority is handed down another level
Who makes the ‘sub-delegation’ ?
civil servants
Why is sub delegation such a criticism?
as this effectively means that the law is ‘rubber stamped’ by the Minister of that Department
What is a problem with the large volume of delegated legislation?
it makes it difficult to discover present law
What aggravates the problem of the large volume of delegated legislation?
the lack of publicity
Why is there a lack of publicity in delegated legislation?
as much delegated legislation is made in private in contrast to the public debates of Parliament
What is a disadvantage of delegated legislation which is shared with Acts of Parliaments?
the same problem of obscure wording that can lead to difficulty in understanding the law
What are the 4 main disadvantages of delegated legislation?
- undemocratic , rubber stamped
- risk of sub-delegation
- large volume, difficult to discover the present law
- lack of publicity, Hard to interrupt if has obscure wording
What are the 3 reasons for delegated legislation?
- knowledge and expertise
- saving parliamentary time
- can be changed more quickly than Acts of Parliament
