United Nations Act 1946

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The United Nations Act 1946 was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a means of putting the job of implementing the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council in the hands of the government rather than Parliament. It is a similar mechanism to European Communities Act 1972.

It is a short Act with one section containing five subsections.

Sub-section (1) allows for the government of the day to implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions without the official approval of Parliament. It reads:

If, under Article forty-one of the Charter of the United Nations signed at San Francisco on the 26 June 1945, (being the Article which relates to measures not involving the use of armed force) the Security Council of the United Nations call upon His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom to apply any measures to give effect to any decision of that Council, His Majesty may by Order in Council make such provision as appears to Him necessary or expedient for enabling those measures to be effectively applied, including (without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words) provision for the apprehension, trial and punishment of persons offending against the Order.

Subsection (2) refers to the jurisdiction His Majesty’s dominions, and has been amended over time as the United Kingdom has lost legal control over its colonies.

Subsection (3) says that these orders can be revoked or changed at will.

Subsection (4) says that these orders must be laid before Parliament, but that they don't need to be voted on.

Subsection (5) authorizes the implementation of these orders to come from general taxation.