delegated legislation

• enabling act


  legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it for authorization or legitimacy the power to take certain actions
• delegated legislation


  delegated or secondary legislation allows the government to make changes to a law without needing to push through a completely new act of parliament
• order in council


  orders that have been approved at a meeting to push through a completely new act of parliament.
• statutory instrument


  a form of legislation which allows the previsions of an act of parliament to be subsequently brough into force or altered without parliament having to pass a new act
• by law


  local laws made by a local council under an enabling power contained in a public general act or a local act requiring something to be done or not doesn't in a specified area
• affirmative resolution


  a procedure in the UK government whereby secondary legislation requires approval from parliament before it passes into law
• negative resolution


  the statutory instrument must be revoked if either house passes a resolution against it within 40 parliament days
• super affirmative resolution


  involves an additional stage of scrutiny where parliament considers a proposal for a statutory instrument before the statutory instrument is formally presented
• scrutiny committee


  examines the policy merits of statutory instruments and other types of secondary legislation that are subject to parliamentary procedure
• judiciary review


  a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body
• ultra vires


  a Latin term meaning 'beyond the powers'. describes an actions taken by the government bodies or corporations that exceed the scope of power given to them
• procedural ultra vires


  where procedures under the enabling act having not been followed
• legislative and regulatory reform act 2006


  ministers can use legislative reform orders to change the law to remove or reduce burdens imposed by legislation or to promote better regulation.
• a case for procedural ultra vires

  Aylesbury Mushroom Case 1972
• substantive ultra vires


  R v Secretary of state for education and employment ex parte- national union of teachers 2000
• example of an enabling act

  access to justice 1999 which gave the lord chancellor wide powers to alter various aspects of the legal funding system
• example of order in council

  the consumer protection act 1987. order 2000 extended the scope of consumer protection law to agricultural products, to comply with a European directive.
• example of statutory instrument

  the building regulation 2010 under the building act 1984. police powers under PACE
• example of a bi law


  local government act 1972 allows local authorities to make their own laws against causing damage to road signs and urinating in public
• reasons for having delegated legislation (4)

  - a new law may be required for a specific area of the country, specialist local knowledge may be required.

  - a new law on a technical matter such as health or agriculture will require specialist technical knowledge.

  - an emergency or a new situation may require new law to be made quickly.

  - the process of law making. requiring reading of the law in both houses may be too slow in an emergency