Legislation And Its Types

INTRODUCTION

Broadly speaking, there are two types of Legislation viz Supreme and Sub-ordinate. A legislation is said to be supreme or direct when the authority under which the law is enacted is a sovereign law-making body i.e enactment by the Indian Parliament. On the other hand, legislation is said to be subordinate or indirect when the Authority is a sub-ordinate law-making body that derived its power from the sovereign authority i.e laws and regulations made by the municipality. However, the distinction between direct and indirect legislation was not of great use in the very early period. The British Parliament in every sense of the term is a sovereign law-making body because there is no external restraint on its absolute authority to make law. Laws are made by the British Parliament can’t be called in question and therefore sovereign in the Austinian concept of sovereignty. But according to the Austinian concept of sovereignty, the Indian Parliament cannot be called a sovereign law-making body, because the validity of its laws can be challenged in a court of law and the Act or a portion of it may be declared as ultra vires the Constitution of India. But according to the modern concept of sovereignty, even legal restraint on sovereignty is not inconsistent with the idea of sovereignty. The parliament of India is a sovereign and independent legislative not sub-ordinate to any internal or external authority.

PURPOSE OF LEGISLATION

The legislation serves many purposes such as to regulate, to authorize, to provide, to sanction, to grant or to declare restrict and repeal.

CLASSIFICATION

Legislation may be classified into Supreme or Sub-ordinate Legislations.

It is termed as Supreme because the sovereign authority is itself is a law-maker. Sub-ordinate is when the sovereign power is delegated to any other authority to make law or simply as the power delegated to a corporation to make laws.

SUPREME LEGISLATION

In regards to the unlimited power of the Supreme Legislation, Blackstone observed “an Act of Parliament is the exercise of the highest authority that this kingdom acknowledges upon Earth. It has the power to bind every subject in the land, and the dominions even the king itself. Thus it cannot be amended, altered or dispensed with suspended or repealed but in the same forms and by the same authority of the Parliament. A classic exposition of this very foundation principle can be found in the Dicey’s book of THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION. Modern exponents of Constitutional Law also stated that the principle of the supreme legislation is equally in unqualified terms. There are various kinds of supreme legislation are-

SUB-ORDINATE LEGISLATION

Subordinate legislation may be simply known as legislation by any authority other than the supreme authority in the state. Or in other terms, it may be said that laws made under the powers delegated by legislation. Subordinate Legislation may be divided into –

1. Autonomous- In some cases, the sovereign authority may confer rule-making powers to private entities i.e a group of private individuals. The laws made by such a body is known as automatic law and the body is known as an autonomous body. A University is an example of an autonomous body.
2. Executive- The doctrine of “separation of power” is no longer strictly followed by three organs of Government i.e Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The executive power of the state, therefore also combined with the subordinate legislature for the smooth running of the administration of the Government.
3. Judicial- Besides the judicial functions the judicature in all the countries is empowered to formulate their own rules and procedures. In India, the Supreme Court and the High Courts are empowered to make their own rules and procedures and also to control the subordinate judiciary.
4. Municipal or Local Laws-The The local bodies in various states are also empowered with limited subordinate law-making powers concerning their local matters which will operate within its respective locality. In India, such bodies are Municipal Board, Medical Council of India, etc.
5. Colonial- The Countries which are not independent are under the control of some other countries that are entrusted with some legislative power under the control of the Imperial Legislature. Such laws are also known as Subordinate legislation. Such countries are known as dominions or colonies. They are generally made laws for self-government. Before 15th August 1947, India was a colony of the British Government and the legislative body, both provincial and central has passed many such laws which were called colonial legislation. But as most of the colonies had become free State, in near future we may not have such kinds of subordinate legislations.

[The author, Upasana Borah is a 4th Year law student at NEF LAW COLLEGE, ASSAM affiliated to Gauhati University]