Just a theory, but maybe
you've worked or been part of companies that are small enough to have the same people doing multiple jobs. HR never decides policies beyond hiring or employee relations. As has been mentioned in a previous reply, HR exists to hire/fire, and be completely unable to tell you how much vacation time you've accumulated. This seems to be pretty standard in English speaking countries.

Legal tends to be responsible for determining whether a policy is, in fact, legal. They are also sometimes responsible for non-marketing PR (i.e. spin control).

Neither of these departments determine policy. Not unless key people from them also hold other positions, or whoever setup the company doesn't understand what these department labels mean.

If your long experience indicates otherwise, be advised that you've been part of a series of non-standard organizations and your impressions are different than the realities of the majority of people that work for companies larger than a food kiosk.
(Ejaculantern was caught desecrating pumpkins on, Sat 10 Jul 2010, 8:54, Reply)