Enabling act

An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislature grants an entity which depends on it for authorization or legitimacy to take a certain action(s). It is important not to confuse enabling acts from different times and places, since their effect varies widely.

In Germany

In the German Weimar Republic, an "Enabling Act" ("Ermächtigungsgesetz" in German) was a law passed by the "Reichstag" with a two-thirds majority, by which the government was authorized to legislate without the consent of the Reichstag. These special powers would remain in effect for the specified time. This is to be distinguished from the provisions of Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which allowed the President to legislate by decree in times of emergency, subject to the veto of the Reichstag. An Enabling Act was supposed to be used only in times of extreme emergency. Only two Enabling Acts were ever passed:

*the first Enabling Act was in force in 1923-24, when the government used an Enabling Act to combat hyperinflation.
*the second Enabling Act, passed on March 23, 1933, was the second stepping-stone after the Reichstag Fire Decree through which Adolf Hitler obtained dictatorial powers using largely legal means. The formal name of the Enabling Act was "Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich" ("Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the State"). It carried a four-year sunset clause (and would also have lost force should another government have been appointed) but was renewed in 1937, 1941 and 1944. In contrast to the Enabling Act of 1923, this Act covered changes to the constitution, excepting only the existence of the Reichstag, the Reichsrat and the office of President.

In Venezuela

In Venezuela, enabling laws allowing the President to rule by decree in selected matters have been granted to Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974),Cite web|url=http://www.fpolar.org.ve/Encarte/fasciculo24/fasc2402.html|title=Historia de Venezuela en Imágenes. Capítulo VIII 1973 /1983. La Gran Venezuela|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=Fundación Polar|work=La experiencia democrática 1958 / 1998es icon] Jaime Lusinchi (1984)Cite web|url=http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=43974|title=El tema: Historia democrática venezolana |accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=Globovisión|year=2006-11-28es icon] and Ramón José Velásquez (1993)Cite web|url=http://www.cidob.org/es/documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/venezuela/ramon_jose_velasquez_mujica|title=Ramón José Velásquez Mújica|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=Centro de Investigación de Relaciones Internacionales y desarrollo|year=2006-09-21es icon] . In mid 2000 a similar law enabled Hugo Chávez to legislate on issues related to the economy, reorganization of government ministries, and crime for one year. Chávez did not take advantage of this act until shortly before its expiration, when he passed 49 decrees in rapid succession, many of them highly controversial. [Cite web|url=http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1529|title=Land for People not for Profit in Venezuela|accessdate=2008-04-29|publisher=venezuelanalysis.com|year=2005-08-23] [Cite web|url=http://buscador.eluniversal.com/2004/07/22/en_pol_art_22A477445.shtml|title=Attorney General's Office admits that Venezuelan government exceeded its authority in enacting Enabling Law|accessdate=2008-04-29|publisher=eluniversal.com|year=2004-07-22] [Cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8229.htm|title=Venezuela|accessdate=2008-04-29|publisher=U.S Department of State|year=2002-03-04]

In 2007, a new enabling act was requested by President Chávez which, if granted, would give the president the ability to rule by decree over certain economic, social, territorial, defense, and scientific matters as well as control over transportation, regulations for popular participation, and rules for governing state institutions. [Cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8229.htm|title=PROYECTO DE LEY QUE AUTORIZA AL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA PARA DICTAR DECRETOS CONTENTIVOS DE ACTOS CON, RANGO, VALOR Y FUERZA DE LEY EN LAS MATERIAS QUE SE LE DELEGAN EXPOSICION DE MOTIVOS|accessdate=2008-04-29
publisher=Agencia Boliviana de Noticias|year=2007-01-16] The referendum, which would have granted Chávez this power, however, was not passed. Chávez accepted the outcome of the referendum, much to the relief of concerned parties in both Venezuela and other countries, most notably the United States.

In the United Kingdom

In the 1930s, both Sir Stafford Cripps and Clement Attlee advocated an enabling act to allow a future Labour government to pass socialist legislation which would not be amended by normal parliamentary procedures and the House of Lords. According to Cripps, his "Planning and Enabling Act" would not be able to be repealed, and the orders made by the government using the act would not be allowed discussion in Parliament. [Cite web|url=http://www.mises.org/etexts/mises/bureaucracy/section7.asp|title=Is there any Remedy Available?|accessdate=2008-04-29
publisher=Ludwig von Mise Institute] Cripps also suggested measures against the monarchy, but quickly dropped the idea. [Cite web|url=http://www.marxist.com/hbtu/chapter_15.html|title=Road to Wigan Pier|accessdate=2008-04-29]

In 1966, Oswald Mosley advocated a government of national unity drawn from "the professions, from science, from the unions and the managers, from businessmen, the housewives, from the services, from the universities, and even from the best of the politicians". This coalition would be a "hard centre" oriented one which would also get Parliament to pass an Enabling Act in order to stop "time-wasting obstructionism of present procedure", as Mosley described it. He also claimed that Parliament would always retain the power to dismiss his government by vote of censure if its policies failed or if it attempted to "override basic British freedoms". [Cite web|url=http://www.oswaldmosley.com/misc_documents/ombfe.htm|title=Oswald Mosley, Briton, Fascist, European|accessdate=2008-04-29
publisher=OswaldMosley.com]

In early 2006, the highly controversial yet little-publicised Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was introduced to Parliament. This Bill, if enacted into law, would have enabled Government ministers to amend or repeal any legislation (including the L&RR Bill itself), subject to vague and highly subjective restraints, by decree and without recourse to Parliament. The Bill was variously been described as the "Abolition of Parliament Bill" [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2049791,00.html (The Times)] and "...of first-class constitutional significance... [and would] markedly alter the respective and long standing roles of minister and Parliament in the legislative process" (House of Lords Constitutional Committee, reported in [cite news |first=Daniel |last=Finkelstein |title=How I woke up to a nightmare plot to steal centuries of law and liberty |url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2040625,00.html|work=The Times |date=2006-02-15 |accessdate=2007-01-16 ] . The Bill is, in essence, an Enabling Act in all but name.

After some amendment by the government and Lords, the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006. [ [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/news/2006/061109.asp Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill receives Royal Assent] , Press release CAB066/06 from the Cabinet Office, 8 November 2006.] Amendments included removing its ability to modify itself or the Human Rights Act 1998; most of the other modifications were much more subjectively defined.

In the United States

An enabling act, in reference to the admission of new states into the Union, is legislation passed by Congress authorizing the people of a territory to frame a constitution. The act also lays down the requirements that must be met as a prerequisite to statehood. These Acts have usually been titled "An Enabling Act for a State of (Name)".

Enabling acts of the United States include:
*Alaska Statehood Act
*Hawaii Admission Act
*Enabling Act of 1802, for the formation of Ohio from the Northwest Territory
*Enabling Act of 1889, for the formation of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington
*Enabling Act of 1910, for the admission of Arizona [Cite web|url=http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/enabling.pdf|title=Enabling Act|accessdate=2008-04-29]
* [http://www.thegreenpapers.com/slg/statehood.phtml?format=enabling Official Name and Status History of the several States and U.S. Territories] , TheGreenPapers.com (listed)

References