Understanding the Relationship Between Laws and Regulations

The Third Level of Regulations

The third level consists of the regulations that dictate the other members, ministers, and ministerial orders. Regulation 50/1997 states that the Crown can never violate the decrees of the council or chairman.

Pure and Proper Regulations

Regulations not issued by the government are parliamentary regulations, which are approved by Parliament. These internal operating regulations have regulatory powers but are not the same as the government; they just share the same name.

Regulations of the General Council of the Judiciary

The General Council of the Judiciary establishes rights, duties, and performance standards for judges and magistrates. There is no separation of powers within the General Judicial Council.

Individuals with Regulatory Power

There are individuals with their own regulatory power. The Constitutional Court (TC) also has the constitutional authority to issue regulations and has regulatory power. Politically different local authorities and regional governments make laws with their parliaments, and their governments develop those laws through regulations.

Local authorities also have statutory authority, municipalities, and provinces in compliance with the law.

Relations Between Laws and Regulations

There is a hierarchical relationship; the rules cannot contradict the law. A regulation contrary to law is void. The law may repeal rules otherwise. Regulations include no internal hierarchy relationship between them, depending on the subject that dictates.

The rules dictate administrative bodies of lower rank than ministers. The administration is pyramidal, beginning with a minister who is the head of the department, but below there are hundreds of public offices. They end up at the minister, but there are rules that have a certain scope, which manifest power to administrative direction. For example, the Director General of Notarial Records, who is not a minister but holds a very inferior position, is able to issue orders of service to all the civil records of Spain.

• The law has no limit in our system; it can regulate any matter.
• The regulations may not contravene the laws. Where the law enters, it causes a freezing range. If the law can regulate any matter and the regulations cannot be contradictory to these as regulated by law, it causes a vacuum effect around them.

Legislative Intervention and Delegalization

Legislative intervention results in the freezing range of subjects. To modify them, another subsequent law is needed, and regulations cannot enter this area.

This operation is called delegalization: the thawing of matters governed by law. Thus, freezing and delegalization are opposing sides.