Delegated Legislation

Question 1

What is an enabling act?

Answer 1

An act of parliament which creates the framework of the law and then delegates power to others to make more detailed law in the area

Question 2

What are the three types of delegates legislation?

Answer 2

Orders in council
Statutory instruments
By-laws

Question 3

What are orders in council?

Answer 3

A type of delegates legislation which effectively allows government to make laws without going through parliament and can be made on a wide range of matters:

• Transferring responsibility between government departments
• Bringing acts of parliament into force
• Amend and update existing law e.g changing cannabis to class B with misuse of drugs act 1971

Question 4

What are statutory instruments?

Answer 4

Rules and regulations made by government ministers under the authority of an enabling act.
E.g. police codes of practice in relation to stop and search, arrest and detention. There are 8 codes. They are made under PACE 1984

Question 5

What are by-laws?

Answer 5

Laws made by local authorities to cover matters within their own area e.g traffic control and parking restrictions or banning alcohol in public places
They can also be made by public corporations and certain companies for matters within their jurisdiction for example, British Airports Authority can enforce rules about public behaviour on their premises

Question 6

How can parliament control delegated legislation?

Answer 6

• Checks on the enabling act and can repeal the powers in the enabling act at any time
• Affirmative resolutions (statutory instrument will not become law unless approved by parliament)
• Negative resolution (Will become law unless rejected by parliament within 40 days)
• Scrutiny committees who review all statutory instruments

Question 7

How can the courts control delegated legislation?

Answer 7

• It is ruled to be ultra vires meaning it is void and of no effect
• it is ultra vires because the correct procedures has not be followed e.g Aylesbury mushroom case
• it is ultra vires if it is unreasonable

Question 8

What are the reasons for using delegated legislation?

Answer 8

• Law is very detailed meaning parliament does not have the time to deal with all law, and by using delegated legislation they can still keep control through the use of enabling acts
• Lots of legislation needs expert knowledge which parliament sometimes doesn’t have so therefore the detail of the law can be filled in by those who know the subject matter
• Local knowledge for by-laws as only the council will know which areas should have a drinking ban etc.
• Ministers have the benefit of consultation with interested people before the regulations are created

Question 9

What are the advantages of delegated legislation?

Answer 9

• Saves parliamentary time
• Access to technical expertise
• Allows consultation to make sure the regulations are technically workable
• Allows quick law making, orders in council for example can be made very quickly to deal with disasters or terrorists threats
• Easy to amend so law can be kept up to date, useful for minimum wage etc.

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of delegated legislation?

Answer 10

• Undemocratic as takes law making away from house of commons
• Sub delegation meaning that the law making authority is handed down another level
• Large volume and lacks publicity so it makes it difficult to know what the present law is and this is aggravated by the fact that the laws are made in private without debate
• difficult wording therefore difficult to understand