RULE OF LAW
The rule of law in France is called “la principle de ligalite” which means the principle of legality where the government is based on the principle of law, not of the man.
The rule of law is that concept where everything must be done according to the law, and not any man will be considered as above the law it opposes arbitrary or tyrannical powers.
As per Pluto, the rule of law means that it is supreme and nobody is above the law.
Dicey’s rule of law- rule of law was a principle of the English constitution, he wrote a book of law of the Constitution where he differentiated between administrative law and rule of law.
Dicey wrote hey-day of laissofaire he dealt with the rights of the individual not with the power of administration, dicey dealt with individual liberty and criticized administration discretion.
Dicey was against making laws different for ordinary citizens and for those who have government jobs.
As per him rule of law should be equal for everyone, whether he is the prime minister or a normal labour worker
There must be no discrimination done under the rule of law, he promoted the idea of the rule of law
We can divide the rule of law into three categories-:
1. Supremacy of law - as per Dicey’s concept of the rule of law there must be absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as it’s opposed to the influence of arbitrary power and it has to exclude the existence of arbitrariness of prerogative or even of wide discretionary authority on the part of the government. He said where there is discretion there must be the place of arbitrariness, which is a rival of the legal freedom of citizens.
2. Equality before the law - there must be equality before the law or equal subjection of all classes, if there is equality before the law, there is no place for discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, religion, creed and so forth. The law should apply equally to ordinary people and government officials, he says that with us there can be nothing corresponding to droit administratif or tribunaux administratif providing a special court is the negation of equality.
3. The predominance of legal spirit - he says that the British constitution system is based on common law which is the source of fundamental freedom for people, he distinguishes the British system from that of many other countries
Criticism of Dicey’s concept of the rule of law;
Dicey dealt with individual liberty and criticized administrative discretion, but he did not deal with the administrative as such and he failed to distinguish between discretion given to public officials by statute and the arbitrary discretion at one time claimed by the king.
In his law of the constitution, dicey did not refer to the prerogative writs of mandamus, prohibition and certiorari by which superior courts exercised control over administrative action and adjudication.
