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The Civil, Service Point of View
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
The Report of the Committee on Ministers' Powers has now been available for more than a year, and the Committee's recommendations as to how far steps should be taken to secure the sovereignty of Parliament and the supremacy of law in the sphere of delegated legislation and judicial or quasijudicial powers exercised by Ministers of the Crown are well known. The Report has been reviewed and criticized by (inter alios) Dr. W. A. Robson, one of the principal witnesses before the Committee, and Mr. W. I. Jennings. Both of these writers are teachers of law, and their observations should be carefully studied.
1 H.M. Stationery Office, Cmd. 4060, 1932, 2s. 6d.; cited below as M. P. R.
2 Political Quarterly, 1932, vol. iii, No. 3, pp. 346 ff.
3 Public Administration, October, 1932, vol. x, No. 4, pp. 333 ff.
4 Committee on Ministers' Powers, vol. i, 1932, H.M.S.O., 15s.
5 Vol. ii, £1 10s.
6 Minutes of Evidence, pp. 2 and 3, para. 5, and see para. 7 as to denial of alleged antagonism between the administrators and the law.
7 E.g. Local Government Acts, 1888, s. 108; 1894, s. 80; 1929, s. 130; Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, s. 67.
8 E.g. National Insurance Act, 1911, s. 78; Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, s. 36.
9 Section 80.
10 M. P. R. p. 61.
11 M. P. R. p. 64.
12 Minutes of Evidence, p. 3, para. 12.
13 Minutes of Evidence, p. 120.
14 Minutes of Evidence, p. 122, para. 8.
15 M. P. R. pp. 68 ff.
16 M. P. R. pp. 68—70.
17 The King v. Minister of Health, Ex p. Yaffé [1930] 2 K. B. 98.
18 Such an order is now subject to an appeal to the Courts under a time limit: Housing Act, 1930, s. 11, sub.s. 3.
18a As to whether orders requiring to be laid before Parliament can be questioned in the Courts, see [1931] A. C. at pp. 503 and 535; and see below.
19 See M. P. R. p. 69.
20 Cambridge University Press, 1921.
21 See ante.
22 Orders for compulsory purchase for other purposes are generally subject to parliamentary approval—at all events if objected to—i.e. by Provisional Order Confirmation Acts.
23 In Minister of Health v. The King (above) Lord Dunedin, at pp. 502—3, discussing the distinction'between that case and Locktcood's Case, says: ‘I do not think that that distinction, obvious as it is, would avail to prevent the sanction (of Parliament) given being an untouchable sanction”; and see per Lord Thankerton, at p. 535.
24 M. P. R. pp. 64—70.
