5.3.2 National Law, Subsidiary Variations and Delegated Powers

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There are hierarchies of control for each of the aspects of the Legal Dimension of governance within a country:

· There is some form of national Supreme Court which has jurisdiction over lower-level courts.

· The enforcement powers, for example the police, are managed hierarchically with some form of political control such as a Minister at the top.

· The penal system also has political control at the top.

The lower levels of these hierarchies, in carrying out their duties, have to be empowered in a legal sense. The individual agencies each need to be told what powers they possess, to impose and enforce rules for public behaviour, and what rules they themselves must comply with. The way in which they exercise their powers is subject to review by the courts, which provide a mechanism for appeal against any breach of permitted procedure. This form of delegated power can be referred to as €œAdministrative Law€,[1] and it can be used to delegate powers to local authorities, public services, civil society and even to private companies. It can include some economic regulations.

Within a country it might be expected that the application of law would be uniform but there are ways in which it can be varied. In America, State law can differ from Federal law because the States have their own legislatures. Regional differences can emerge anyway, in any country, even with identical legislation, through different histories of judgements and sentencing €“ though the appeals process can prevent wide variations, as cases are escalated up towards a Supreme Court or its equivalent.

If there are significant cultural differences between the regions of a country there may be some benefit in permitting variations €“ to allow a strengthening of the sense of cultural autonomy and thereby increasing the acceptability of governance for the people involved. Scotland, whose separate legal system within the United Kingdom predates its union with England in 1707, is an example of a divergence which has been retained. In other situations, where a country is in the process of dividing into fragments, a divergence in legal practice would gradually emerge; divergent legislation would become possible as the separation became formalised.