delegated legislation
orders in council
statutory instruments
by-laws
control by parliament
affirmative resolutions
scrutiny committee
legislative and regulatory reform act 2008
procedures
control by the courts
use of delegated legislation
advantages and disadvantages of delegated legislation
The way in which judges and lawyers interpret acts of parliament
Why do we need it?
1. The wording of the act may be vague
- Ambiguity (vagueness in words) two or more words may have the
same meaning it may not be clear which meaning should be used
- There may be words designed to cover several possibilities
2. No provision can hope to cater for all circumstances
- New developments – new technology means that an old act of
parliament does not apparently cover present day situations
3. Lawyers argue for alternative legislation
4. There may be a drafting error
- The draftsman may have made an error in the original bill
Judges are called to adjudicate on the meaning and application of
law
Name Area of Facts Principle
law
Brock V Statutory Queen’s bench divisional It is a broad term
DPP interpretati court decided that the which could cover
(1993) on word “type” had a wider several possibilities
meaning than ‘breed’ it which would require
could cover any dogs interpretation by
with similar judges
characteristics
Rv Statutory The court had to decide Interpretation is
Whitely interpretati if damage had been required by the
(1991) on done to tangible judge when there
property when D deleted are changes in
files in a computer hard society or
drive. The drive was technology
physically undamaged
but harm had clearly
been done. The court
stretched the meaning
by deciding the
magnetic particles on
the surface of the disc
had been altered
R v Kelly Recent use The gambling act 1968 Ambiguous law
(2007) example of states a poker game of requires
ambiguity chance requires a interpretation by the
licence but a game skill judges
doesn’t
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