Delegated Legislation & the Limits of Delegation — KSLU Administrative Law Notes

Delegated Legislation & the Limits of Delegation

Delegated (subordinate) legislation is law made by an executive/administrative authority under powers conferred by the legislature in a parent (enabling) Act — rules, regulations, bye-laws, notifications and orders. It grew because the legislature lacks the time, technical expertise and flexibility to legislate on every detail, and because emergencies and experiments demand quick, adaptable law-making.

The crucial limit is the doctrine of excessive delegation: the legislature may delegate the power to fill in details but must itself lay down the legislative policy and standard; it cannot delegate its essential legislative function (the determination of policy). The leading authority is In re Delhi Laws Act (1951), refined in Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India (1960) — where a power to extend an Act to “any other disease” with no guiding standard was struck down — and contrasted with the US “intelligible principle” test of J.W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States (1928).

flowchart TD
    A["Is the delegation VALID?"]:::root
    A --> B["Did Parliament lay down<br/>POLICY + STANDARD?"]:::q
    B --> C["Yes -> valid delegation<br/>(only details left to executive)"]:::yes
    B --> D["No guiding principle -><br/>EXCESSIVE DELEGATION (void)"]:::no
    A --> E["Essential legislative function<br/>delegated / abdicated? -> void"]:::no

    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#333,color:#000;
    classDef q fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    classDef yes fill:#E6FFE6,stroke:#1E7A1E,color:#000;
    classDef no fill:#FFE6E6,stroke:#8A1E1E,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;