DEROGATION

Derogation, in civil law and common law, is the partial suppression of a law, as opposed to annulment
(total abolition of a law by explicit repeal), and obrogation (the partial or total modification or repeal of
a law by the imposition of a later and contrary one).[1] It is sometimes used, loosely, to mean
abrogation, as in the legal maxim: Lex posterior derogat priori, i.e. a subsequent law derogates the
previous one.

The term is also used in Catholic canon law,[2] and in this context differs from dispensation in that it
applies to the law, whereas dispensation applies to specific people affected by the law.

In terms of European Union legislation, a derogation can also imply that a member state delays the
implementation of an element of an EU Regulation (etc.) into their legal system over a given timescale,
[3] such as five years; or that a member state has opted not to enforce a specific provision in a treaty
due to internal circumstances (typically a state of emergency).

That is to say, in canon law a dispensation affirms the validity of a law, but asserts that the law will not
be held to apply to one or more specific persons, for a specific reason. (For example, while the Catholic
Church's canon law does not normally recognise gender transition, an intersex woman may present
appropriate medical documentation to seek, and possibly receive, a dispensation from the Holy See to
live and be recognised as a man, or vice versa.) Derogation, on the other hand, affects the general
applicability of a law.

A non-canon-law analogue of dispensation might be the issuing of a zoning variance to a particular

business, while a general rezoning applied to all properties in an area is more analogous to derogation.