Definition
DELEGATA is a Latin term from civil and common law signifying things, powers, or authority that have been delegated — that is, entrusted or transferred from one person to another for exercise on behalf of the original holder. It appears most often as the subject of the maxim *delegata potestas non potest delegari* ("a delegated power cannot be further delegated"), which expresses a foundational principle of agency, administrative, and constitutional law: one who receives authority by delegation may not, as a general rule, pass that authority on to yet another party without express permission from the original grantor.
The term functions both as a standalone noun (referring to delegated powers collectively) and as part of the broader family of delegation concepts anchored in the root DELEGATUS.
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Common Confusion
DELEGATA is frequently encountered only as part of the maxim rather than as a stand-alone term, and researchers sometimes conflate it with DELEGATUS (the delegate, i.e., the person) or with DELEGATIO (the act of delegating). The three are grammatically and conceptually distinct: DELEGATA refers to the powers or things delegated; DELEGATUS refers to the agent or deputy who receives them; DELEGATIO refers to the transaction or act of delegation itself. In civil law contexts, DELEGATIO also carried the specific meaning of substituting one debtor for another — a species of novation — which has no counterpart in the common law use of DELEGATA.
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Why It Matters in Research
The practical importance of DELEGATA in legal research lies almost entirely in the maxim *delegata potestas non potest delegari*. Researchers encountering this phrase in historical treatises, equity opinions, administrative law materials, or constitutional commentary should understand that DELEGATA is the operative word identifying what cannot be re-delegated: the powers themselves as received.
Several research traps arise here. First, historical sources apply the maxim inconsistently across contexts. In private agency law, the maxim operated as a near-absolute rule. In public and administrative law, it evolved into a presumption only, overcome by statute or necessity. Researchers using nineteenth-century common law sources to illuminate twentieth-century administrative law applications will find the contexts have diverged substantially.
Second, the maxim appears in both Latin and English formulations across the Law Mind corpus, and the Latin form is not always indexed or cross-referenced to its English equivalents. A search for DELEGATA alone may miss the bulk of relevant material, while a search for "delegated power cannot be delegated" may miss historical Latin-form citations.
Third, in civil law sources — particularly those drawing on Roman law or Continental European traditions — DELEGATA and DELEGATIO may appear in the context of novation and debt substitution rather than agency or public authority. The meaning pivots sharply depending on the legal system being discussed. A researcher working in mixed-jurisdiction sources (Louisiana, Quebec, historical Spanish or French colonial law) must determine at the outset which sense is operative.
The term is a useful signal for the vintage and orientation of a source: Latin-form usage suggests either a historical common law treatise, a civil law text, or equity-derived authority. Modern administrative and constitutional law materials will typically use English-language equivalents.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson's Dictionary of Law does not define DELEGATA directly, instead cross-referencing DELEGATUS and providing substantive treatment under DELEGATE and DELEGATION. This is characteristic of the historical dictionary literature generally: Latin-form terms in this family were treated as grammatical variants rather than independent entries, with doctrinal content gathered under the anglicized headings.
Anderson's treatment of DELEGATION captures both the common law sense (transfer of authority; the act of making a deputy) and the civil law sense (substitution of one debtor for another as a species of novation). This dual meaning is important context for researchers, as modern English-language legal dictionaries tend to preserve only the agency and authority sense, effectively erasing the novation meaning from the accessible reference literature.
What historical dictionaries largely omit is the constitutional and administrative law dimension of the maxim — the non-delegation doctrine as applied to legislative power — which became significant in Anglo-American public law well after the classical dictionary period. Researchers should not expect historical dictionary entries under DELEGATA or DELEGATUS to capture this development.
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Jurisdictional Note
The non-delegation principle expressed through the DELEGATA maxim operates differently across systems. In United States federal constitutional law, it became the basis for the non-delegation doctrine limiting Congress's ability to transfer legislative power to executive agencies, a doctrine with its own distinct doctrinal history. In civil law jurisdictions, DELEGATA-family concepts connect more directly to obligations law and novation. Researchers should not assume uniform application across common law and civil law sources even when the same Latin term appears.
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