Delegatus non potest delegare

Delegatus non potest delegare means that a delegate cannot further delegate. Where a power is entrusted to a particular person or body, the law presumes that it was chosen for its own judgment and skill, so the power must be exercised by that person or body and not handed on to someone else. The rule is a presumption about legislative or contractual intention, not an absolute bar: sub-delegation is valid where the statute or instrument permits it expressly or by necessary implication.

In administrative law the maxim governs both delegated legislation and administrative action. A statutory authority that is given power to make rules, to sanction a prosecution, or to decide a matter must exercise that power itself unless the parent Act authorises it to delegate. Action taken by a sub-delegate without such authority is without jurisdiction. Quasi-judicial functions are ordinarily treated as incapable of delegation, since the authority that decides must apply its own mind; mere ministerial or administrative steps, such as collecting material, may however be entrusted to subordinates. At the level of the legislature itself, Indian courts have held since In re Delhi Laws Act, 1912 (1951) that the legislature may delegate subordinate rule making but cannot abdicate its essential legislative function.

The principle has a statutory expression in the law of agency. Section 190 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that an agent cannot lawfully employ another to perform acts which he has expressly or impliedly undertaken to perform personally, unless by the ordinary custom of trade a sub-agent may, or from the nature of the agency a sub-agent must, be employed. A sub-agent under Section 191 is a person employed by, and acting under the control of, the original agent.

Examiners ask for the meaning, the exceptions where sub-delegation is permitted, and its expression in Section 190 of the Contract Act.