How Does Parliament Have Over Delegated Legislation

Delegated legislation is controlled by the judiciary (in the form of judicial review) and, most importantly, by Parliament. It does this through different control methods, such as the affirmative resolution procedure and by working alongside Parliamentary committees. It may still, however, have an inadequate control over delegated legislation, as Parliament itself does not have the resources to pass secondary legislation.

Affirmative resolution procedures

The control Parliament has over delegated law-making is minimal as it does not have the time or expert knowledge necessary to pass secondary legislation. Delegated legislation is therefore bestowed upon ministers from Acts of Parliament. However, Parliament does have some mechanisms in place
The case relating to this is Customs and Excise Commissioners V Cure & Deely Ltd (1962) where the power of the commissioners to make delegated legislation under the finance act no. 2 (1940) were challenged. The Act allowed them to create rules ‘for any matter for which provision appears to them necessary to give effect to the Act’. The High Court concluded that it gave Government departments far too much power which was beyond Parliament. This is because their role was to collect the tax due only.

There is one limitation of judicial review in that proceedings must be brought before the Divisional Court for them to review any delegated legislation. This is dependent upon an individual being able to finance such a claim.

Additionally, such claims may be affected by a lack of awareness or lack of knowledge due to the amount of delegated legislation passed each year. The fact that a claim has not been brought before the courts usually haws to do with the difficulties of successfully financing and bringing such a claim to court.

Parliamentary