Rule of law

Theoretical overview

According to Black’s Law Dictionary: – ‘Rule of Law’ means the legal principles of day-to-day application, expressed by the governing body or authorities as approved and a logical proposition.

According to the Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary: – The ‘Rule of Law’ means the situation in which all citizens as well as states are governed by law.

Dicey in his work stated that Rule of Law is fundamental to the English legal system and gives the following three meanings to the doctrine:

1. Supremacy of Law:

• Rule of law according to Dicey means the absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power or wide discretionary power.
• It means the exclusion of the existence of arbitrariness on part of the government.
• This in essence means that no man can be arrested, punished or be lawfully made to suffer in body or in goods except by the due process of law and for breach of a law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of the land.

2. Equality before Law

• While explaining this aspect of the doctrine, Dicey stated that there must be equality before the law or equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary law courts.
• Dicey believed that the exemption of civil servants from the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts of law and providing them with thecial tribunals was the negation of equality.
• He stated that any encroachments on the jurisdiction of the courts and any restriction on the subject’s unimpeded access to them are bound to jeopardize his rights.

3. Judge-made Constitution 

• Dicey observed that in many countries rights such as the right to personal liberty, freedom from arrest, freedom to hold public meetings, etc. are guaranteed by a written Constitution; in England, it is not so.
• In England, those rights are the result of judicial decisions in concrete cases that have actually arisen between the parties.
• Thus he emphasized the role of the courts of law as guarantors of liberty and suggested that the rights would be secured more adequately if they were enforceable in the courts of law than by mere declaration of those rights in a document.

Rule of law and Indian constitution

The Preamble of the Constitution itself prescribes the ideas of Justice, Liberty, and Equality. These concepts are further enunciated in Part III of the Constitution and are made enforceable. 

All three branches of the government are subordinate i.e. the Judiciary, Legislature, and Executive are not only subordinate to the Constitution but are bound to act according to the provisions of the Constitution. 

The doctrine of judicial review is embodied in the Constitution and the subjects can approach the High Court and the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights.

 If the Executive or the government abuses the power vested in it or if the action is mala fide, the same can be quashed by the ordinary courts of law.

Important case laws

• ADM Jabalpur vs. Shivkant Shukla: This case is also known as the Habeas Corpus case. It is one of the most important when the rule of law comes. The question that was raised before the Honorable Court was whether there was any law in India other than Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. This was related to the Proclamation of Emergency, where the enforcement of Articles 14, 21 and 22 was suspended.
• Chief Settlement Commissioner, Punjab vs. Om Prakash: In this case, the Supreme Court observed our constitutional system, the central and most distinctive feature being the concept of the rule of law which means, in the present context, the right of legal courts to test all administrative action at the legal level. Administrative or executive action that does not meet the standard will be set aside if the aggrieved person brings the matter to attention.

Points to remember

• ‘Rule of Law’ means the legal principles of day-to-day application, expressed by the governing body or authorities as approved and a logical proposition.
• Dicey stated that there must be equality before the law or equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary law courts.
• no man can be arrested, punished or be lawfully made to suffer in body or in goods except by the due process of law and for breach of a law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of the land.
• The Preamble of the Constitution itself prescribes the ideas of Justice, Liberty, and Equality