Legislative Powers of Public Authorities
| Published date | 01 January 1928 |
| Date | 01 January 1928 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1928.tb02321.x |
| Author | Harold Potter |
Legislative Powers
of
Public
Authorities
By
HAROLD
POTTER,
LL.B.
Readev
in
Law
in
the University
of
Birmingham
[A
paper
read before
Ihe
West Midlands
Group
of
the
Institute
of
Public
A
dministration]
T
would ill become me before an assembly
so
accustomed in their
1
daily round to dealing with the legislative powers of different
authorities, to embark upon any
sort
of enumeration or statement of
practicd working.
To
do
so
would doubtless expose not only my folly,
but also my ignorance.
I
therefore propose, not without some trepida-
tion, to place before you to-night some considerations upon the generalities
of delegated legislation and upon its exercise by different classes of
bodies in this Empire.
I
hasten to add that where these considerations
are
a
matter of opinion no expression
is
to be construed as my
own,
but rather
as
a
debatable point upon which those who have experience
may more fitly offer
a
decision.
In these circumstances, perhaps,
I
may be forgiven if
I
adopt the
geometrician’s system of offering two axioms before statement of my
premises. First, in the words of de Lolme,
“
Parliament may do anything
but make
a
man
a
woman.” There
is
no legal limit to the legislative
authority of the Imperial Parliament or to the powers that
it
can give
or take away.
Secondly, the utmost delegation which has been granted has not
permitted any interference by the delegated legislature with provisions
of the Imperial Parliament which are applicable to the locality in which
the delegated legislature functions
:
Colonial Laws Validity Act,
1865.
At this point
it
may be wise to point out two sources of error in
law, though in politics it
is
doubted whether the facts are
sufficiently
important.
There are certain powers exercised by the Crown in Council that have
never been conferred by statutory authority, but are the result of
the
existence of the Common Law anterior to the supremacy
of
Parliament,
It is true that since the
Case
of
Proclamations,
the
Crown
cannot make
any new law, except perhaps within certain
limits,
when
a
war
is
raging
or there is imminent fear of invasion, in this country or any part
of
the
British Empire save that acquired by conquest where no legislature
has been conferred upon
it.
Yet for such Colonies or Protectorates
32
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