There are limits to what courts can do to thwart legislative enactments of Henry VIII clauses, which grant powers to the executive to modify legislation. Typically, Henry VIII clauses are included in legislation for limited periods of time, to facilitate the implementation of the statutory provisions.
Much of what governs modern life is not produced by legislators in the form of laws, but by the executive branch in the form of regulations, statutory instruments (and much more besides). Some oversight is exercised by the legislative branch, but the deluge of delegated legislation is such as to overwhelm the parliamentary committees responsible for monitoring it. Henry VIII clauses are especially problematic, because they can be used by the executive to defeat the intention of the legislature. Their purposes may be innocuous, but their use might not always be.
