P3 Unit 2 Delegated Legislation - BTEC Applied Law.
This document contains a detailed description of Statutory Instruments, Order in Council, and By-Laws regarding Delegated Legislation.
Delegated Legislation
P3
Delegated Legislation is where another authority develops or slightly amends
current law on behalf of Parliament. Generally, passing an Act of Parliament is a very
time consuming process, hence permitting an alternative body to make legislation in
Parliament’s place speeds up the entire process and it’s a more efficient legislative
method. Occasionally, law needs to be made quickly or altered slightly, and therefore
this alternative process is ideal. Delegated Legislation is important because it can be
used to deal with national emergency situations, and it’s more flexible as it can be
amended more easily and quickly in contrast to an Act of Parliament. Likewise,
Delegated Legislation is significant because it allows more precise and accurate detail
to be added to an existing Act at a later date. An original Act of Parliament would have
provisions that allow for future delegated legislation to alter the law to differing degrees.
Delegated Legislation can be used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from
relatively small scale technical matters (such as fixing the date on which an Act of
Parliament will come into force), to filling in the detail of how an Act’s principles will be
implemented. This method can be used to free up Parliamentary time, since there is not
enough time for Parliament to deal with creating legislation in detail. Ultimately, we have
delegated legislation to allow the Government to make amendments to existing law
without needing to push through a completely new Act of Parliament. There are three
types of Delegated Legislation; Statutory Instrument, Order in Council, and By-Law.
Statutory Instrument
Statutory Instruments are established by Government Ministers and are often used to
enhance, amend or enforce existing primary legislation and Acts of Parliament.
Statutory Instruments are a form of delegated legislation which enable the provisions of
an Act of Parliament to be subsequently altered or brought into force without Parliament
having to pass a new Act. Normally, an Act will contain a broad structure and Statutory
Instruments are used to provide the essential detail that would be too intricate to include
in the Act itself. Statutory Instruments are a major method of law making in this country
because Parliament only has a limited amount of time to devote to any legislative
timetable. Passing an Act of Parliament is a lengthy process and the final Act may not
always cover every fine detail of the subject they deal with. Therefore, Statutory
Instruments are used by the Government to amend them to prevent the need for an Act
of Parliament each time a detail has to be updated or added. Government Ministers are
responsible for this method of law making on behalf of Parliament, hence it still retains
some control over this method of making law. Statutory Instruments could be used to
change the amount of a fine or the minimum wage; and have been used in the past to
add specific breads of dogs to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
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