Delegated Legislation is law made by some person or body other than Parliament but with the authority of Parliament. There are three types of delegated legislation-statutory instruments, bylaws and orders in council.

Bylaws give local authorities or other bodies the power to make laws that suit the local people or people who are affected by them. Local bylaws can include traffic control and parking restrictions. Bylaws can also be made by public corporations and certain companies for matters within their jurisdiction, for e.g. British Airports Authorities can make rules regarding health and safety on their premises or public behaviour. An e.g. of this in force is when smoking was banned by the London Underground system.

Orders in Council are made by the Queen and the Privy Council. The Privy Council is made up of past and present senior ministers (e.g. Margaret Thatcher) who meet up with the monarch to make emergency decisions, mostly when Parliament is not sitting, either when they're on holiday or dissolved for a general election. They are able to make emergency decisions under the Emergency Powers Act 1920.

b- i> Delegated Legislation can be challenged in the courts is it appears to be "ultra vires." This means when you feel that the party that has made the law has gone beyond their power that was granted to them by Parliament from the Parent Act.

DL's can also be held ultra vires if the correct procedure has not been followed. This was shown Aylesbury Mushroom case 1972 when the court held that the Minister of Labour had to consult "any organisations appearing to him to be representative of substantial numbers of employers engaging in the activity concerned," and he failed to consult the Mushroom Growers Association which represent about 85% of all mushroom growers meant that his order establishing a training board was ruled invalid.

Statutory Instruments can also be declared ultra vires if it comes into conflict with European Union legislation.

ii> If the challenge has been is successful and the DL has been ruled ultra vires then it becomes void and ineffective, as was shown in R v Home Secretary 1995 where changes made by the Home Secretary to the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme were held to have gone beyond the power given to him in the Criminal Justice Act 1998.

c> The main advantages of DL are that it saves Parliamentary time and allows for law to be made quicker than it would be by Parliament. MP's also lack technical knowledge e.g. the Abortion Act and giving the Health Ministry responsibility as they will have more knowledge than MP's and will know what is best. DL allows for flexibility in the law as it can be put into action quickly, and easily revoked so the law is up to date. In times of emergency without DL there wouldn't be anyone to make emergency decisions and DL allows for these decisions to be made by Orders in Council.

The disadvantages are that it is undemocratic as it allows non-elected people to make law, with the exception being for by-laws. Another problem is that it is sub-delegated, meaning that too much of the law is made by civil servants and only 'rubber stamped' by ministers of that department leading to many complaints about this method. It is also difficult to discover what the present law is, and this problem arises from the fact that there is too many DL's being passed every year and they have a lack of publicity as most of them are made in private in contrast to the public debated of Parliament. They contain obscure wording and are difficult to understand. It has also been argues that DL has been overused and therefore it is difficult for it to be supervised effectively.

Mohammed Bhana TG7 Law