Introduction

Dicey says that in an emergency situation public officials might find themselves compelled to act outside the law and Parliament might then indemnify them. But an Act of Indemnity does not make what the officials did legal – Parliament has ‘legalised illegality’. Rather, it places them in a zone uncontrolled by law – a legal black hole, to use the current term. His point is that political power can be exercised in a brute fashion, permitting those who wield it to break free of the constraints of constitutionality and legality.

It might, Dicey thinks, be at times justified to do this because without illegal action the state and thus law itself might have been overthrown. But it would be far better if Parliament were to delegate in advance the resources to public officials to deal with the emergency.