Delegation of Authority

A delegated authority cannot be again delegated.

Delegata potestas non potest delegari.

Source: 2 Inst. 597; Broom, Max. 840; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1300; Weisman, 11a

Government power delegated by the People cannot be sub-delegated to private actors, corporations, or agencies without express constitutional authorization.

The derivative power cannot be greater than the original from which it is derived.

Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitiva.

Source: Noy, Max. 16; Wing. Max. 66; Finch, Law, b. 1, c. 3; Weisman, 11b

Government cannot exercise a power greater than what the People delegated to it. What the People reserved, the government never possessed.

Nothing is so becoming to authority as to live in accordance with the laws.

Nihil tam proprium imperio quam legibus vivere.

Source: Fleta, lib. 1, c. 17, s. 11; Weisman, 11c

Authority is legitimate only when exercised within the bounds of law. An officer who acts outside the law acts without authority.

No one can do indirectly what he cannot do directly.

Nemo potest facere per obliquum quod non potest facere per directum.

Source: 1 Inst. 56; Broom, Max. 347; Weisman, 2y

A government that lacks authority to regulate a right directly cannot use licensing, taxation, or contract to achieve the same result by indirection. The foundation of the unconstitutional conditions doctrine.

When anything is commanded, everything by which it can be accomplished is also commanded.

Quando aliquid mandatur, mandatur et omne per quod pervenitur ad illud.

Source: 5 Co. 116; Weisman, 11g

A grant of authority includes the means necessary to exercise it — but no more. The grant must exist before the means can be implied.

He who acts through another acts himself.

Qui facit per alium facit per se.

Source: Co. Litt. 258; Broom, *Legal Maxims* (1874), pp. 817-818; Wharton, *Legal Maxims* (1878), Max. LXV; Jackson, *Latin for Lawyers* (1915), Max. 859

A principal is bound by the acts of his agent done within the scope of authority — he cannot delegate the act and disclaim the consequence.