devolution

Meanings

1. A rolling down.
2. A descent, especially one that passes through a series of revolutions, or by succession.
3. The transference of a right to a successor, or of a power from one body to another.
4. Degeneration.
5. The transfer of some powers and the delegation of some functions from a central government to local government (e.g. from the U.K. parliament to Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly).

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French dévolution, from Medieval Latin devolutio, devolutionis, from Latin devolvo.