enabling act
noun1
Government, Politics Legislation piece enacted by a legislative body that authorizes a dependent entity to exercise specific powers or undertake certain actions.
- I know an enabling act can enable anything, but the Prime Minister feels it would merely enable him to lose the next general election (laugh track).1987 December 17, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “A Diplomatic Incident”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds):
- Hyponyms
- act