delegated legislation

Question 1

what are the three types of delegated legislation

Answer 1

orders in council, statutory instruments. bylaws

Question 2

who makes orders in council

Answer 2

the privy council- a council made up of the prime minister and leading government ministers

Question 3

who must approve all orders in council

Answer 3

the queen

Question 4

what are four key uses of orders in council

Answer 4

to give effect to eu directives
to make quick reactionary laws in emergency situations
to transfer powers between different government departments
to amend existing laws

Question 5

what is an example of an order is council to give effect to an eu directive

Answer 5

data protection act 1998

Question 6

what act allows the privy council to make emergency laws

Answer 6

the civil contingencies act 2004

Question 7

what are statutory instruments

Answer 7

rules and regulations made by civil servants and government ministers

Question 8

how many statutory instruments are passed each year

Answer 8

over 3000

Question 9

what do statutory instruments allow

Answer 9

a degree of flexibility as existing acts of parliaments can be changed without going through the lengthy legislative process

Question 10

what four key things do statutory instruments allow

Answer 10

• update, change and modernise existing acts of parliament
• add expert and technical detail to existing acts
• set out the framework for new acts with the detail being added later
• repeal existing acts of parliament

Question 11

what is a key example of when a statutory instrument was used to change an existing act

Answer 11

abortion act 1967- abortion up to 28 weeks was lowered to 24 weeks

Question 12

what are bylaws

Answer 12

laws that only effect certain jurisdictions, made by public corporations and local authorities

Question 13

what type of offence do bylaws usually relate to

Answer 13

regulatory type offences such as parking restrictions and alcohol exclusion zones

Question 14

what are four parliamentary controls on DL

Answer 14

1. enabling act
2. affirmative/ negative resolutions
3. scrutiny committees
4. the legislative and regulatory reform act 2006

Question 15

describe enabling acts and give an example.

Answer 15

parliament grants authority for delegated legislation through an enabling act which states exactly who can make a law and exactly when they can do it. foe example the civil contingencies act 2004 states that the privy council can only make emergency laws in emergency situations

Question 16

describe negative and affirmative resolutions

Answer 16

every single statutory instrument is subject to either a negative or affirmative resolution. most are subject to negative resolutions which means that parliament has 40 days to reject it before it automatically passes through. however, some are subject to affirmative resolutions which require the approval of parliament to be passed. the enabling act will state which a statutory instrument is subject to, and if it does not then it will automatically be negative resolution.

Question 17

what is the scrutiny committee for statutory instruments and what do they do

Answer 17

the joint select scrutiny committee review every singly statutory instrument. they provide feedback on any considerations to parliament and also have the general power to question MPs in the house of commons on their decisions.

Question 18

what is the scrutiny committee for other forms of DL

Answer 18

the Delegated Powers Scrutiny Committee. they do not have the power to alter legislation but will feedback to parliament if they believe that a piece of DL has gone beyond its powers in any of the following ways; goes beyond enabling act, implements tax or fine, retrospective effect, unexpected use of power

Question 19

what does the legislative and regulatory reform act 2006 do

Answer 19

sets out a procedure that must be followed for particular types of SIs. when a minister creates an SI that repeals and existing act of parliament or removes a burden from an existing act of parliament they must first consult the law commission, welsh assembly and any other organisation that will be impacted by the change

Question 20

what are the two methods of control for delegated legislation

Answer 20

control by parliament, control by courts

Question 21

what is meant by the term ultra vires

Answer 21

gone beyond powers outlined in the enabling act

Question 22

who can challenge a piece of DL

Answer 22

a person of standing (somebody impacted by the legislation)

Question 23

how will it be decided whether a piece of DL is ultra vires

Answer 23

there will be a judicial review

Question 24

what are the two types of ultra vires

Answer 24

procedural ultra vires

substantive ultra vires

Question 25

what is procedural UV and a key case for this

Answer 25

the correct procedure was not followed when creating the dl. case of aylesbury mushrooms where the mushroom growers challenged a law because they had not been consulted on it when they should have been.

Question 26

what is substantive UN and a case for this

Answer 26

the DL is doing more than what the enabling act allows. case of r v home secretary fire brigade- the home secretary made a law on compensation for fire fighters which was challenged by the fire brigade union. the judge agreed that the home secretary had gone beyond the powers of the enabling act.

Question 27

what is other groups of people will be considered in a judicial review and what case established this

Answer 27

those that feel that the law is unreasonable, established by the case of wednesbury which saw ‘wednesbury reasonableness’

Question 28

in what case was the principle of wednesbury reasonableness applied

Answer 28

strickland- local authority banned the use of obscene language and this was seen as unreasonable