Rule of law

 Rule of Law

Introduction

Rule of Law is a dynamic concept and is one of the essentials  of a constitution based on Democracy. It is the supremacy of Law and is against to the Rules of Man. The phrase 'Rule of Law' derived from the French maxim ' le principle de legalite' meaning the principle of legality. Bracton in the 13th century had said " even the rulers are subject to law", Fortseque uses this rule to justify that tax could not be imposed without "Law made by the Parliament". Rule of law has been defined by a lot of jurist as a symbol of ultimate authority, no man can override. The rule of law is one of the basic and general principles of the constitution. Rule of describes the supremacy of the law that no one is above the law and everyone is obliged to do the duties imposed upon. The Modern concept of rule of law was proposed by Dicey and it contained three important factors;

1. The Rule against Arbitrariness: 

This rule restrain the Administrative officers from exercising their power arbitrarily. The executive officer should exercise only those powers which are authorized by legislature and it also emphasis that no discriminatory power should be given to the executive officials by Acts or by rules. The rule considered the constitution as supreme and all the powers are to be controlled by the constitution. Administrative powers are limited by legislation, but the parliament itself is controlled by the people.

2. Equality: 

The second part of rule of law is equality which really important and equal laws should be administered equally. According to Dicey, this is ' equality before the law' he declared that no one should be made to suffer in the body or goods except for a distinct breach of law. I t also means that all persons must be amendable to the ordinary jurisdiction of the court". The rule of Law contains the guiding principle t the Administrators. They should have to exercise their powers without any discrimination between person to person in society. If they exercise their powers arbitrarily or by making discrimination, then it should be controlled or corrected by Judicial Scrutiny.

3. Common Law Rights

According to Dicey , the third limb of the rule of law is that the constitution of England is the consequence of the common law right of the individuals, hence common law is the source of the freedom of the people. if the rights are based on a document like the constitution, by amending the constitution , by the Parliament, the rights can be abrogated or denied.

In  A. D. M. Jabalpur vs. Shukla our Supreme court erred in holding that Art 21 of the constitution was suspended & hence, there was no remedy by writ under an emergency. This was corrected by the 44th Amendment & hence habeas corpus cannot be suspended even in emergency.  The Supreme court held that Rule of law is the basic structure of the constitution and cannot be amended under Act, 368 of the constitution (Minerva Mills’ Case) .