We explain what a decree is, its elements, who issues it, the types that exist and other characteristics. Also, differences with a law.
What is a decree?
A decree is a type of administrative act, generally regulatory in content, that comes from the decision of an authority in a matter within its jurisdiction, and that is therefore imposed vertically.
In other words, It is a decision, provision or command coming from a constituted power which must be complied with within the terms in which the laws contained in the National Constitution establish it.
The word decree comes from Latin decreeand it was a common term in feudal or aristocratic societies, where the word of the monarch had the rank of law. For example, a royal decree or royal decree were enabling documents to perform certain offices or take ownership of certain assets in colonial America, when it was politically and economically controlled from Europe.
On the other hand, decrees can contain general elements (decision) or individual elements (provision). Depending on this, they will establish the rules for general law (abstract, impersonal) or particular norms (decrees).
Generally, the decrees come in a democracy from the executive branch and are subject to review by the other powers, in accordance with what is established in the Law.
See also: Public power
Difference between decree and law
To begin with, decrees usually come from the executive branch (not exclusively), while laws are the result of legislation. Decrees are born from a certain sense of necessity and urgency while the latter of consensus and debate.
Although there are decrees that have the character of law (Decrees-Law), in general no decree can contravene constitutional laws or at least not without first having been granted some type of special power to the executive by the legislature, being endorsed by the judicial branch.
So, for a decree to acquire the rank of law and its compliance to be mandatory, it must be ratified by the legislature, and this power is responsible for the administration of the laws of a nation.
So: Laws are the rules of mandatory compliance according to the social pact itself that is, they are the rules of the State to function in every situation. Decrees, on the other hand, are specific decisions that are taken to address a certain problem and that may or may not reach the rank of law.
Types of decree
The decrees are classified according to their content and their relationship of conformity or disagreement with the laws, as follows:
- When a decree creates general legal rules, which apply to different cases equally, we are in the presence of a regulation
- When, on the contrary, it gives rise to individual norms that apply to a specific occasion, we are in the presence of simple decrees either individual administrative acts.
- When a decree modifies a law permanently, we are in the presence of a decree-law.
Continue with: Public law
References
- “Decree” in Wikipedia.
- “Decree” in Legal Encyclopedia.
- “Law and decree” at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo.
- “Laws, decrees and resolutions, what makes them different?” (video) in La Voz del Derecho.
