Arrogation Law and Legal Definition
Arrogation refers to the act of claiming or taking something without the right to do so. For example, limited military actions unilaterally ordered by the President are an arrogation of Congress’s powers to declare war. In Dow Jones & Co. v. Harrods, Ltd., 237 F. Supp. 2d 394, 429 (S.D.N.Y. 2002), it was held that, in the rules of the international arena, premised as they are on the nearly immutable concept of even sovereignty and the co-equality of states, arrogation is often infectious.
In response to one nation's tendency to overreach, arrogation does not take long for the ill-effects to catch on, and for others to reciprocate, requiting sovereign indignity with indignity. An arrogation of authority is, however, quite a different matter and, is necessarily and obviously actionable by the body whose authority has been directly infringed upon.
