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English legal system

Doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament

Parliament is sovereign. This means that, in theory, it is only Parliament that can
make new law and it can make any law it wishes. However it cannot pass an Act
which can never be repealed.

The courts cannot question the validity of an Act. However, they must refuse to apply
an Act that contravenes EU law.

Delegated legislation

For many reasons, Parliament has delegated some of its legislative powers to other
bodies. Usually, Parliament passes an 'enabling' Act setting out the policy involved
and the objectives it wishes to achieve. The Act then delegates the task of filling in
the details to some other body.

Rules enacted under such powers are called delegated legislation, and the following
are examples:

 statutory instruments: made by Government Ministers

 bye-laws: made by local authorities

 Orders in Council: made by the Privy Council in the name of the Monarch on the
advice of the Prime Minister.

Delegated legislation has a number of advantages:

 It saves Parliamentary time.

 It may benefit from access to technical expertise, thus leaving
Parliament free to consider and debate the underlying principles.

 Flexibility – it is quick and easy to make and to change.

However, it also has a number of disadvantages:

 Its volume and lack of publicity means that it can be difficult to
keep up with the changes introduced.

 It is criticised as being undemocratic as it is made without
recourse to the elected House of Commons.

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