Delegated legislation Flashcards
What are the 3 types of delegated legislation?
- By-Laws
- Statutory instruments
- Orders in council
What is a by-law?
Laws made by local councils:
- Parking restrictions
- Fines for dog mess
- Penalty for littering.
Local by-laws are permitted under the Local Government act 1972.
A case example for by-laws
Boddington v British Transport Police (BTP) 1998
Boddington was convicted of smoking on a train carriage. The by-law was made under section 67 of the transport act 1962. The magistrate fined him £10 and ordered him to pay costs.
What is a statutory instrument?
These are laws made by government ministers who are heads of departments such as the department for education. Sometimes department can change whole areas of law, other time only small parts of the law. An example of a statutory instrument is the Dangerous Dog’s Act 1991.
What is the process of statutory instruments?
- A parent/enabling act will be passed by parliament using the usual law making process.
- This act will set out the powers that that government department have.
- government departments can then make changes to the law as long as they follow the rules set out in the parent act.
- Sometimes these rules will require specific processes to be followed before the law will be passes such as consultation of certain groups.
What is an order in council?
Laws made by the king and privy council which can be passed in emergency situations and are also used to pass EU directives into law under the European Communities Act 1972.
Who are the privy council?
Made up of the prime minister, other leading members of government, members of the royal family, senior judges and members of the clergy.
In what 4 circumstances can the privy council make laws?
- Emergency situations
- To give effect to EU directives
- To transfer responsibility between government departments.
- To bring acts or parts of acts into force.
Example of an order in council
Following the 9/11 terror attacks the privy council passed an order in council to freeze the bank accounts of suspected terrorists. they were able to do this within 48 hours of the attack taking place. This was later enforced by parliament under the anti-terrorism, crime and contingencies act 2001.
