?Delegated Legislation Is A Necessary Evil?. How Far Is This An Accurate Assessment Of This Process Essay, Research Paper
There are three sources of law in this country, they are
case law, EU law, and legislation. Legislation is what is we will be looking at
in this essay. There are two types of legislation, Acts of Parliament and
Delegated legislation. More specifically we will be looking at delegated
legislation. Delegated legislation is law made somebody or something other than
parliament. To which parliament has delegated the power. I feel that the evil
mentioned in the title is that this could be seen as an undemocratic method of
law making. This is because many of the people involved in this method of law
making are not directly accountable to the English public. This is because most
of these people aren?t voted for, therefor they cannot be truly seen as our
representatives. There are three different types of delegated legislation;
orders in council, statutory instruments and bylaws. Each one varies in how
undemocratic they are so they will be studied differently. Orders in council are made by the privy council. The
privy council is called in times of emergency, when parliament is not actually
sitting. This because in emergencies it may take too long to for members of
parliament to reach the house of commons to make a decision on the matter. An example
of this is the recent fuel strike where the Privy council was called together
to make a decision on the matter. This consists of the Queen, the Prime minister
and appointed privy councillors. This could be seen as very undemocratic
because the only member there that has been voted for by the public is the Prime
minister. However although these Privy councillors are appointed by the queen,
this is done so under the recommendations by the government. So they are
although not directly accountable they are in a very roundabout way accountable
to the public through the government. Also the privy council was given its power
and limitations by a parent act passed by parliament called the Emergency Powers
Act. In this way the privy council are made even more accountable to the British
public because what power the privy council has can be taken away at any time
by government, because of parliamentary sovereignty which states that the government
can change any previous law passed. The conclusion therefor is that this is not
a totally democratic method of law making but because the government have some
say in who becomes its member and the Prime minister is elected and it?s powers
given to them by the government it?s not totally undemocratic either. Bylaws can be made by local authorities to cover matters
in their own area also the can be made by public corporations. Where the local
authorities are concerned there is no problem about how democratic they are
because the parent Act called Local Governments Act 1972 was passed by MPs and
the councillors who actually pass these laws are voted for. These authorities
make parking regulations etc. The problem here is the laws passed by public
corporations. Only link they have with the general public is that people use
them. In no way are any of these people in these corporations accountable to
the public apart those of normal business. The only way that parliament is
involved is passing of the parent Act that allows these companies to pass
delegated legislation. This is not too big a problem however since they only
really make rules that are to be followed when you are on their premises and
using their services. An example of this is when London Underground banned
smoking on its premises. So it only affects people who use their services so
does not affect the general public much. Also they are accountable in that if
they make rules that people don?t like people will stop using their services.Statutory instruments are passed by government ministers
and departments. These powers were given to these departments and ministers by
parent acts. Theoretically there should not be any problems here because all government
departments are headed by a minister that has been elected e.g. The Road
traffic Act gave the minister for transport the power to regulations about
speed limits etc. However the problem occurs when the ministers don?t have the
time to keep an eye on all that is going on because this is the method that
most law is made. So it may not always be the ministers that are totally in
control of this process other may be involved.The problem is whether this not totally democratic method
of law making is necessary enough to outweigh the fact that it?s not totally democratic
in a democratic country. The main consideration is that parliament does not
have time to pass every piece of legislation that is needed and do this
properly. The amount of legislation that needs to be passed each year makes it
impossible for parliament to take care of it all. Also parliament does not have
the knowledge to deal with all the problems in this country. Parliament does
not have the local knowledge to set proper parking regulations for the whole of
England. Also it does not have the technical knowledge to deal with all areas
i.e. parliament does not have the technical knowledge needed to pass
legislation to control technology etc to make sure it?s safe for the
environment and people. Things like this require the knowledge that local
authorities have and experts in those particular fields. The other way to deal
with this is consultation but that would take even more time than it does now
to pass each piece of legislation. Also it takes considerable time to pass each
piece of legislation in parliament. It may sometime not be able to do this fast
enough. This is the reason for the Privy council it also applies for other
types of delegated legislation. The final reason why I feel that delegated
legislation is acceptable is because parliament can always overrule these
pieces of delegated legislation. This is because parliament has set provisions
in place so that it is more in control. These are affirmative resolution. In
these situations the statutory instruments legislation will not become law
until parliament say so. Negative resolutions means that legislation can be
rejected by government. Also scrutiny commitees are in place monitor statutory
instruments and if necessary bring it to the attention of both houses of
parliament. This means that Parliament is always in control and will act in its
own interests to make sure that the government of that time stays in power,
making those who pass delegated legislation once again accountable.