Constitutional Law 101

Parliament makes law, but rarely concerns itself with the practicalities of how that law is to be put into effect. The power to make regulations under Parliamentary legislation is usually delegated to some person or body. Such regulations are published in a document called a Statutory Instrument (SI), which in theory has to be approved by Parliament. In practice what happens is that the SI is "laid on the table" - which means that it is actually put on a special table in the Palace of Westminster for MPs to have a look at if they wish. And if nobody objects within a certain period of time (normally 40 days), the SI becomes law. In reality, the table is usually smothered with documents, and most MPs don't have the time or the will to sort through them and read them. So very often nobody realises that regulations have been made until after they come into force. A good example is a recent SI made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which extends the original concept of the Act, which was designed to give the courts power to order the freezing of bank accounts and the seizure of assets of persons convicted of major crime to relatively trivial things like council tax arrears. This seems to have caught many people, including some lawyers and policemen, by surprise, and they are not happy. It would be better if these things were discussed in Parliament rather than sneaked through by SI.