Subsidiary Legislation : Definition and Reason for growth

Definition 

Section 3 of the Interpretation Act defines Subsidiary Legislation (SL) as "Any proclamation, rule, regulation, order, notification, bye-law or other instrument made under any Act, Enactment or other lawful authority.

In simpler words it means law made by bodies or persons pursuant to a power delegated by the legislature to them having the force of law. This type of law has the same effect as if they were passed in Pt or State Legislature itself.


Reason for the growth of Subsidiary Legislation

A number of factors have contributed to the growth of SL :

1) T : The Time Factor

Parliament does not have enough time to legislate all the laws in the land. The Public requires a vast quantity and type of law, which the Parliament, on it's own is unable to make and meet. Thus, to resolve this issue, Parliament would enact the broad principles of law in the 'Parent Act' and allow the bodies or persons authorized in the Act to deal with the details.

2) D : Details and Technicalities of the Law

Members of Parliament enacts the law, indeed, however so, they may not be an expert in the area of law they are legislating. For instance, MPs generally may not be able to enact an Act which deals with all the complexity and technicalities of Marine Law, often only experts specialised in the subject-matter can work them out. Therefore, to overcome this, again the Parliament enacts only the 'Parent Act' and leave the details to such experts.

3) F : Flexibility of Subsidiary Legislation

A SL is very flexible as compared to an Act of Parliament (AoP). For instance, if something needs to be changed in an Act of Parliament, it would have to pass an amending legislation. This is not the case for SLs as it is possible to rapidly change details of the SL from time to time so as to adapt to formerly unforeseen and unknown future problems.

4) E : Emergency Situations

Should there be a time when the country is under emergency and there is a need for a legislation immediately to handle the situation, Parliament can't be convened nor can they enact laws immediately. They have mandatory procedures that they have to adhere to. This is when SL comes in handy as it allows for the administration to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations according to the needs of the emergency situations.

Reference : M.P Jain, 4th Edition, Page 45-47.