Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939

The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 62) was emergency legislation passed just prior to the outbreak of World War II by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to enable the British government to take up emergency powers to prosecute the war effectively. It contained clauses giving the government wide powers to create Defence Regulations by Order in Council. These regulations governed almost every aspect of everyday life in the country during the War. Two offences under the regulations (forcing safeguards and looting) were punishable with death. Following the conclusion of the war, the 1939 Act was repealed, with the individual regulations gradually following suit. As of 2023, at least one Regulation (relating to the use of service personnel to perform agricultural and other "urgent work of national importance") remains in force.

On 24 August 1939, following the announcement of the Nazi–Soviet Pact the previous day, the House of Commons was recalled from its summer recess to pass the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill, which gave authority to implement the Defence Regulations. The Act was originally intended to be in force for only one year, and made general provision for prosecuting the war effort. In particular, it provided for the following:

The bill completed all its parliamentary stages, including royal assent, on that day. The question of compensation was not directly addressed by the bill, but the subsequent Compensation (Defence) Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 75) established a statutory compensation scheme in respect of land, vessels, vehicles, aircraft and other property a week later.

The Defence Regulations were Orders in Council and could amend any primary or secondary legislation within the limits of the enabling Acts to allow the effective prosecution of the war. The regulations existed in draft form, constantly revised, throughout the years between the world wars. In early 1939 it was decided that since a war might break out without warning or without time to pass an act of Parliament to bring in emergency regulations, the regulations should be split into two codes. Code A would be needed immediately if war broke out and could be passed in peacetime, while Code B, containing more severe restrictions on civil liberties, would be brought in later. In order not to alert the public to the existence of Code B, Code A was simply numbered consecutively. The main Defence Regulations were the Defence (General) Regulations 1939 (SR&O 1939/927), which implemented Code A and were brought into effect immediately. Code B followed on 1 September (the same day Nazi Germany invaded Poland) in the form of the Defence (General) Regulations (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 1939 (SR&O 1939/978) and included Defence Regulation 18B, which provided a framework for internment. The 1939 regulations were amended dozens of times throughout the war, including by the Defence (General) Regulations (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 1939 (SR&O 1939/1681), Defence (General) Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 1940 (SR&O 1940/1134), in 1941 (adding Regulation 78) and in 1945 (adding Regulation 69D). By May 1945, some 377 Defence (General) Regulations had been created. Other Defence Regulations covered narrower fields of life such as the Defence (Finance) Regulations 1939 (SR&O 1939/1620), the Defence (Armed Forces) Regulations 1939 (SR&O 1939/1304), Defence (Administration of Justice) Regulations 1940 (SR&O 1940/1028), Defence (Summer Time) Regulations 1939 (SR&O 1939/1379) and Defence (Trading with the Enemy) Regulations 1940 (SR&O 1940/1092). Some Regulations included powers for a minister to make further provision by way of orders. Taken together, the Defence Regulations provided the legal basis for a number of measures aimed at the Home Front including the establishment of the Home Guard, the institution of rationing, and nighttime blackouts.

The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940 (3 & 4 Geo. 6. c. 20) extended the 1939 Act for another year, and provided for annual extensions by parliamentary resolution. It also extended the government's powers under the Defence Regulations to require persons "to place themselves, their services and their property at the disposal of His Majesty" though the practical significance of this extension is unclear given the Government had already passed the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939 and the Control of Employment Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 104).

Originally the regulations did not create any capital offences, since the law of treason was thought to be sufficient. Defence Regulation 2A provided that "If, with intent to assist the enemy, any person does any act which is likely to assist the enemy or to prejudice the public safety, the defence of the realm or the efficient prosecution of the war, he shall be liable to penal servitude for life." However, in 1940 amendments to the regulations created two capital offences: "forcing safeguards" (breaking through roadblocks etc.) under regulation 1B, and looting under regulation 38A. Some were repealed, for example by the Land Powers (Defence) Act 1958. The Emergency Laws (Repeal) Act 1959 (7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 19) repealed most of the Defence (General) Regulations, with the exception of:

No. 55 (giving general power to control industry for wide purposes);
No. 55AA (empowering the government to secure the necessary information for these purposes); and
No. 55AB (giving power to impose price control of goods and services). The 1959 Act also preserved Regulation 2A of the Defence (Finance) Regulations 1939 (power of Treasury to prohibit action on certain orders as to gold, etc.) and the Regulation 6 of the Defence (Armed Forces) Regulations 1939 (power to employ troops on agricultural or other urgent work of national importance). However, Regulation 6 of the Defence (Armed Forces) Regulations 1939 was made permanent by the Emergency Powers Act 1964, and several of the other regulations were re enacted on a permanent basis by the Emergency Laws (Re enactments and Repeals) Act 1964 (c. 60). As of 2023, Regulation 6 (which authorises the use of service personnel to perform agricultural and other "urgent work of national importance") remains in force.