DORS - Décrets, ordonnances et règlements statutaires (Canada)
The French version of the
SORs, the Statutory Orders and Regulations, for which the French title is
Décrets, ordonnances et règlements statutaires (DORS).
Government often delegates to departments and ministries the power to detail elements of enforcement of principles of law set out in a statute. That authority is exercised in the form of regulations, as enforceable as the laws from which they derive their authority.
For example, §26.1(1) of the
Federal Divorce Act:
"The Governor in Council may establish guidelines respecting the making of orders for child support...."
Thus, the
Divorce Act gives the government the authority to set child support guidelines which they publish not in the statute, but by the vehicle of a regulation for which the legal citation is:
Federal Child Support Guidelines, SOR/97-175
Each
DORS is given number associated with the year of issue. For
example, the 175th regulation of 1997 is represented as DORS/97-175 (or, in English,
SOR/97-175).
The
DORS (
aka SOR) have been published by the Government of Canada since 1949 and are now published in a consolidated set available in hard-copy or online.
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