ABSTRACT
Much of what has been said in this chapter so far has related to what is often referred to as ‘primary’ legislation, that is, Acts of Parliament. However, from time to time reference has been made to ‘delegated legislation’ which is a process by which different types of law are made under the authority and within the terms of an Act of Parliament. Accordingly, the Act delegates this law-making function to the administrative agency such as the appropriate minister or a local authority, usually in those cases where the Act itself cannot contain a large amount of detail or where some flexibility of response is required in order to deal with unforeseen contingencies. From what has been said, then, it can be appreciated that delegated legislation is sometimes referred to as ‘subordinate’ or ‘secondary’ legislation, although for the purpose of this chapter references will be to delegated legislation.
