enabling statute. 1. See STATUTE. 2. Hist. (cap.) The Lease Act (1540), by which tenants in tail, husbands seised in right of their wives, and others were empowered to make leases for their lives or for 21 years. St. 32 Hen. 8, ch. 28.
A law that permits what was previously prohibited or that creates new powers; esp., a congressional statute conferring powers on an executive agency to carry out various delegated tasks. [Cases: Administrative Law and Procedure 305. C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure §§ 49–54, 57–58, 64.]