Delegated Legislation (P3) Flashcards
What is delegated Legislation?
A law made by a person or body to whom Parliament has delegated law-making powers.
What are the reasons for detailed law?
-For a specific geographical location (requires local
specialist knowledge)
-Technical matters (health or agriculture) require
more specialist knowledge
-An emergency or new situation may require new
law quickly – if speed is important then the
Parliamentary Process (as seen in our previous
unit) is not quick enough
What is a Parent Act?
An Enabling Act, this is Primary Legislation.
Enables further law to be made under this authority.
What are Statutory Instruments?
-Laws made by a Government Minister under the authority of the enabling Act in area of their responsibility
-Drafted by legal department of the relevant
Governmental department
-Often used to update a law (i.e. to change fine
levels for a criminal offence)
-Sometimes wider powers given to fill in detail
when it is too complex to go into the original act
-Often referred to as regulations or orders
What are examples of Statutory Instruments?
-Used to update laws. National Minimum Wage Act 1998 gives power to employment minister to update the national minimum wage each year.
-Provide detailed law. Education Reform Act 1988 gives power to Minister of Education to say what is in the national curriculum
-Allows experts to make law. Road Traffic Act 1988 - minister of transport what type of helmets must be worn.
What are By-Laws?
-Made by Local Authorities or public
corporations companies
-Enforceable in courts
-Local Authorities make laws to apply in their
own geographic area
-County council – for whole county and town
council for town
E.g. drinking in public and dog fouling
What are examples of By-Laws?
-Railways Act 1993 railway companies can
make laws
-Boddington v British Transport Police
(1998) smoking on a train made illegal
What are orders in council?
-Drafted by Government given formal approval by
Queen and Privy Council
-420 members of Privy Council
-Only three or four Government Ministers attend
meetings at which orders are made
When are Orders in Council made?
-Transferring responsibility between government departments, e.g. when the Ministry of Justice was created, the powers of the previous Department of Constitutional Affairs and some of the powers of the home office were transferred to what was then a new ministry
-bringing Acts of Parliament into force
Examples of Orders in Council
-Emergency Powers Act 1920 and The Civil
Contingencies Act 2004 – power to privy
council to make laws when parliament is not
sitting. Foot and Mouth Crisis
-Make laws when parliament is not sitting-
additional holiday for royal wedding.
What are the advantages of Delegated Legislation?
-Saves Parliamentary time: they do not have time to consider and debate every small detail of complex regulations.
-Access to technical expertise: Impossible that MP’s can have all the knowledge needed for complex areas. By using delegated legislation, the necessary experts can be consulted.
-Allows consultation: have the benefit of further consultation before regulations are drawn up.
-Allows quick law making: in an emergency, laws can be passed quickly especially if it is Orders in Council.
-Easy to amend: can be amended or revoked easily when necessary to keep the law up to date.
What are the disadvantages of Delegated Legislation?
-Undemocratic: the people who make the laws are not elected, this cannot be used for By-Laws since they are made by elected bodies.
-Sub-delegation: law making authority is handed down another level. This causes comments that much of our law is made by civil servants and merely ‘rubber stamped’ by the minister of department.
-Large volume and lack of publicity: difficult to discover what the present law is.
-Difficult wording: complex regulations may be difficult to understand.
