?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.