Essay on rule of law

Essay on rule of law

The idea of Rule of Law is one of the integral building blocks of a Modern democratic society. Furthermore, the laws are made for the welfare of the people to maintain peace and harmony between the conflicting forces in society. Moreover, one of the prime objects of making laws is to maintain law and order in society and develop a peaceful environment for the progress of the people The rule of law has been referred to as a ‘wrapper’ that is placed around a bundle of constitutional principles. At one extreme, the rule of law is merely a rhetorical device or a political philosophy and its content is unimportant (the content-free view) The Rule of Law Essay Words7 Pages The rule of law is a difficult concept to grasp and proves elusive to substantive definition. However, the following work considers the attempts of various social and legal theorists to define the concept and pertinent authorities are considered

Free Rule of Law Essays Examples & Paper Topics

The entire base of 'Administrative Law' rests on the concept of the 'Rule of Law', essay on rule of law. No Constitution of any country can function and no nation can march along the true democratic way of life without a true and continuous realization of the importance of the 'Rule of Law' and of judicial review of legislative and executive action.

The expression 'Rule of Law' has been derived from the French phrase 'la principle de legalite', which means the principle of legality and which refers to a Government based on the principles of law and not of men. In simple words, essay on rule of law, the expression 'Rule of Law' indicates the state of affairs in a country where, in main, the law rules. Thus, it provides protection to the people against the arbitrary action of the Government and its officials by compelling them to exercise their powers in accordance with the law.

The concept of the 'Rule of Law' is indeed very ancient. It is said that the Holy Roman Emperor Konrad II A. D decreed in his great law compilation of May 28, that no holder of a feudal estate 'shall be deprived of his fief……. Sir Edward Coke, the Chief Essay on rule of law in James I's Reign is said to be the originator of this great principle, essay on rule of law.

He expressed the view that the King must be under the God and the law and thus he vindicated the supremacy of law over the pretensions of the executive. Later on Professor A. Dicey developed this concept in the course of his lectures at the Oxford University.

Dicey wrote about the concept of 'Rule of Law' in the fourth Chapter of his classic book, essay on rule of law, "The Law of the Constitution" published in at the end of the golden Victorian Era of laissez faire4 in England.

According to Professor Dicey, whenever there is discretion there is room for arbitrariness and the 'Rule of Law' is opposed to the arbitrary powers of the Government and its officials. Meaning of the Expression Rule of Law The 'Rule of Law' is a dynamic concept and is not capable of any exact definition.

This, however, does not mean that there is no agreement on the basic values which it represents. The term 'Rule of Law' is used in contradiction of the rule of man. In the system in which 'Rule of Law' prevails, it is the law that rules even though through the instrumentality of man and not the man independently of or above the law. In this sense the 'Rule of Law' is an ideal. It is the modern name of the 'natural law'. According to H. Wade, the 'Rule of Law' has different meanings.

Its primary meaning is that every thing must be done according to law. Applied to the powers of Government, this requires that every Government Authority which does some act which would otherwise be a wrong or which infringes a man's liberty must be able to justify its action as authorized by law. The secondary meaning of the 'Rule of Law' is essay on rule of law the functions of the Government should be conducted within a framework of recognized rules and principles which restrict discretionary power.

It is an expression synonymous with 'law and order'. Dicey's Formulation of the Concept of Rule of Law.

According to Dicey the concept of 'Rule of Law' forms the basis of the English Constitutional Law and it has three meanings: 1.

Supremacy of law; 2. Equality before law; and 3. Predominance of legal spirit. Supremacy of law: — It means the absolute predominance of regular law as opposed to the influence of discretionary power and excludes the existence of arbitrariness. It prohibits wide discretionary powers in the hands of Government officials. It implies that justice should be done according to the established or written principles of law and not according to the discretion vested with the individuals Government officials.

In other words, 'no man is punishable or can lawfully be made to suffer in body or goods except for a breach of established law in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary Courts of the land'. Accordingly Wade also says, "The 'Rule of Law' requires that the Government should be subject to the law, rather then the law subject to the Government. Equality before law: — It means the equal subjection of all persons to the ordinary law of the land administered by the regular law Courts, essay on rule of law.

The 'Rule of Law' in this sense excludes the idea of any exemption of government officials from the subjection to regular law Courts like other citizens.

It means that cases of citizens against the government should not be decided by the administrative tribunals, where the government officials act as judges because such tribunals while deciding the cases of citizens gives preference to Government and hence equality before law is denied to ordinary citizens.

In this connection he criticized the French legal system of 'droit administratif' in which there were separate administrative tribunals for deciding cases between the government officials and the citizens. In his view, exemption of civil servants from the jurisdiction of the ordinary Courts of law and providing them with the special tribunals was the negation of equality.

Predominance of legal spirit: — By this Dicey means that the general principles of the Constitution are the result of judicial decisions of the Courts in England.

In many countries rights are guaranteed by a written Constitution; in England it is not so. Those rights are the result of judicial decisions in concrete cases which have actually arisen between the parties. In this way he emphasized on role of Courts as the guarantor of liberty. Dicey apprehended that if the source of the rights of people is any written Constitution, the rights can be abrogated at any time by amending the Constitution.

According to him without enforcement machinery there is little value of rights in documents. In this way Dicey's 'Rule of Law' postulates judicial supremacy. Evaluation of Dicey's Rule of Law Dicey's 'Rule of Law' is a standard to judge the action of the government departments concerning the individual citizens.

It proved to be a powerful instrument in controlling the administrative authorities within their limits and saves the citizens from arbitrary exercise of powers, provides equality before Law and therefore, legal spirit predominantly prevails According to Wade, the British Constitution is founded on the doctrine of Rule essay on rule of law Law.

Similar is the view of Yardley that in broad principle the 'Rule of Law' is accepted by all as a necessary Constitutional safeguard, essay on rule of law. Dicey's 'Rule of Law' is not free from criticism. His views about 'Rule of Law' have been criticized by many writers.

It is observed that Dicey ignored the realities in England and misinterpreted the situation in France. The criticism can be summarized in the following manner:- 1 Dicey denied the existence of Administrative Law in England but it is interesting to note that his contemporary, Maitland, perceived its emergence By Dicey himself asserted the emergence of Administrative Law in England, though in the final analysis he asserted that it is not a true Administrative Law because the supremacy of ordinary Courts prevails, essay on rule of law.

Thus he failed to distinguish between discretionary power and arbitrary power. While the arbitrary power is repugnant to the rule of law, discretion, unless exercised improperly is not. The modern welfare state can not function without essay on rule of law power as the functions of the modern welfare state are so complex, varied and multifarious that the legislature can't anticipate and to provide for the same.

Wade and Phillips observed: "If it is contrary to the 'Rule of Law' that discretionary authority should be given to Government or public officers, then the 'Rule of Law' is inapplicable to any modern Constitution" As per Wade, if Dicey had chosen to examine the scope of Administrative Law in England, he would have to admit that even in there existed a long list of Statutes which permit the exercise of the discretionary powers, such as Public Health Act which gave wide discretionary powers to the Government officials to enter upon private properties.

The present trend is that the discretionary power is given to the government or administrative authorities but according to the guidelines or principles laid down by the concerned Statute. Even during Dicey's time the Crown and its servants enjoyed special privileges, immunities and vast discretionary powers on the basis of the doctrine that 'The King can do no wrong'.

Some Acts such as Constable Protection Act, gave special immunity and protection to police officers. In time of emergency there is nothing to stop the legislature from empowering the executive to imprison any person suspected of having enemy association This is true for England as its Constitution is unwritten and contains the principles evolved through judicial decisions.

But this does not hold good in India, USA etc. For example, the Indian Constitution is not the result of judicial decisions. The ordinary law is governed by the Constitution essay on rule of law any law which essay on rule of law against the Constitution of India is declared void by the Courts. Moreover special tribunals were not totally absent in England when Dicey wrote his thesis.

The Poor Law Amendment Act, created the Poor Law Board which had wide powers of rule making and adjudication of disputes. He thought that this system was designed to protect public officials from liability for their acts, and as such, was inferior to the British system of ordinary Courts deciding disputes between the citizens and the State Even today English Judges speak as if 'droit administratif' is a system for putting the executive above the law.

Thus Lord Denning has said: "Our English law does not allow a public officer to shelter behind droit administratif. Sorry, but copying text is forbidden on this website. If you need this or any other sample, we can send it to you via email. Please, specify your valid email address.

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Dicey's Formulation of the Concept of Rule of Law According to Dicey the concept of 'Rule of Law' forms the basis of the English Constitutional Law and it has three meanings: 1. Related posts: Administrative Law, Red and Green Light Theories Rule of law Summary Rule of Law Research Paper Chandler v, essay on rule of law.

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9 - Introduction to the Rule of Law

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The Concept of Rule of Law - Rule of Law Essays

Introduction. The rule of law is fundamental in any society where human rights are to be protected. The word rule comes from “règle” and law from “lagu” roughly translating to “supremacy of law”.1It is a mechanism for safeguarding human rights by guaranteeing them legally and at the same time providing a means for redressal where violations occur Royal Prerogatives and Rule of Law. The first task of this essay is to say what the royal prerogative is. Then this essay will attempt to examine the scope and Continued Sep 12,  · Rule of law means, the law should rule. People should follow and obey the law. In simple way we may say that by Rule of Law the sense that is conveyed is, no one is above law but Law is above all. In present world, a tussle is going on between the rule of power and the rule of Law