Q.
What is Legislation, and who has the power to enact legislation?
A.
Legislation is the law enacted by the legislature, and by bodies and persons authorized by the legislature. In our Parliamentary System, the Legislature composes of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara. At the state level, it is the State Legislative Assembly of various states in West Malaysia, and that of Sabah and Sarawak. Laws enacted by the legislature is referred to as primary legislation; and that made under power delegated by the legislature is called delegated or subsidiary or subordinate legislation. Example, laws made by the local government on parking tickets or laws made on professional bodies.
In Malaysia, the power to enact law is vested in Parliament at the federal level and the State Legislative Assembly at the state level.
As The Federal Constitution is the supreme law, Parliament or State Legislative Assembly are not supreme.
Hence, Parliament and State Legislative Assembly can only enact law within the limits and in the manner prescribed by the Federal and State Constitutions. The distribution of legislative powers between federal and state is set out in Chapter 1, Part VI of the Federal Constitution.
Laws enacted by Parliament are called Acts, but those between 1 Apr, 1946 and 10 Sep, 1959 are called Ordinances. Laws promulgated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong during an emergency proclaimed under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution are also called Ordinances. There are four (4) types of Acts:
- Principal Act, which is the most common;
- Amendment Act, which makes changes to the Principal Act;
- Revised Act, which results from changes (restricted to technical, grammatical, and typographical changes that do not affect the substance of the law) made by the Commissioner of Law Revision under powers conferred upon him in the Revision of Laws Act 1968 (Act 1); e.g. Civil Law Act 1956 (Act 67) (Revised 1972); and
- Consolidated Act, which brings together in a simple Act two or more Acts on a specific subject-matter which had been passed over a period of time; e.g. Interpretation Act 1948 and 1967 (Act 388) (Consolidated and Revised 1989).
Ref:
Wan Arfah Hamzah (2009) A First Look at the Malaysian Legal System. Oxford Fajar. Pg: 52-53.