War Commentary
| Published date | 01 October 1940 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4001300401 |
| Date | 01 October 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
POLICE JOURNAL
VOL.
XIII,
NO.4.
OCTOBER-DECEMBER,
1940
War
Commentary
" D. R."
DEFEN CE
REGULATIONS
continue to issue, in volume
and variety, without sign of abatement. Many of the
orders, regulations, directions and authorisations are the
concern of the Police, in some direction or another, necessitat-
ing careful study by those officers to whom is delegated the
administration or enforcement of particular branches of the
war law, enacted as
being"
necessary or expedient for securing
the public safety, the defence of the realm, the maintenance of
public order and the efficient prosecution of any war in which
His Majesty may be
engaged"
(as the language of the Emerg-
ency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939, expresses it) " or for main-
taining supplies and services essential to the life of the com-
munity."
The
skill and precision with which regulations and
orders are made and acted upon is perhaps the most striking
tribute which can be paid to the dominance and flexibility of
British parliamentary government. Although practically every
enactment of the present Parliament is now, in war-time
legislation, merely the parent of Orders-in-Council, or of
regulations issued by or under the authority of appropriate
ministers of the Crown, Parliament still shows its sovereignty
in such diverse ways as in the effective control of public
spending, and in safeguarding the interests, particularly the
liberty of, the individual citizen. While ministerial powers are
delegated in widespread fashion to various competent military
and other authorities, there is also a jealous determination to
keep the administration of justice within the framework of the
judicial system and the magistracy.
B 369
THE
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