RULE OF LAW
INTRODUCTION
ORIGIN & GROWTH
CONCEPT OF RULE OF LAW
DICEY’S PERCEPTION TO RULE OF LAW
RULE OF LAW IN INDIA
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
RULE OF LAW The Rule of Law is a cornerstone principle in any democratic society and has a
profound impact on the functioning and structure of administrative law. This doctrine ensures
that the government operates within a framework of established legal norms, ensuring fairness,
accountability, and the protection of individual rights. Below is an in-depth explanation of the
impact and implications of the Rule of Law on administrative law:
Definition: The Rule of Law is a concept that implies that all individuals and institutions,
including the government, are subject to and accountable under the law. It upholds the idea that
the law applies equally to all and ensures that no one, including government officials, is above
the law.
ORIGIN AND GROWTH
It is said that the one who originated the concept of Rule of Law was Edward Coke
According to him, the king must be working under the God and law and corrected the
supremacy of the law and said that the Law is supreme over the executive.
La principe de Legalite‟ is a French phase from which the concept of Rule of Law was
derived. It means the principle of legality. The theory of Rule of Law has been traced
back to the Ancient Romans and this concept has been supported by many medieval
philosophers in Europe like Locke, Hobbs and Rousseau’
In India also, Rule of Law can be traced back to the Upanishads. It states that the law is
the king of the kings. No one is higher than the law. Not even the king. Rule of law is
much higher as well as powerful than the kings. Many Indian philosophers have
supported this Rule of Law concept have interpreted it in their own way. The Indian
philosopher Chanakya was of the opinion that the King must be governed by the law.
But the entire credit for the development of the concept of Rule of Law goes to Professor A.V
Dicey who in his book, “Introduction to the study of law of the Constitution” which was
published in the year 1885. He tried developing the Rule of Law concept. Administrative law is
mainly based on this concept. Thus the concept of Rule of Law is one of the most important
aspects of modern legal systems and it purely says that „howsoever high you maybe, the law is
above you‟. No human being is above or higher than the supremacy of law.
DICEY’S PERCEPTION TO RULE OF LAW:
Rule of law is a very important principle which is regulated in the common law countries.
But these common law derived countries modern laws have denied few of the important
parts of the rule of law. This was stated by Dicey at the beginning of the
19th century. Dicey stated Rule of Law as, “absolute supremacy or predominance of
regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power and excludes the existence of
prerogative or even wide discretionary power on the park of government”.5 According to
Dicey he stated that whenever there occurs a discretion, there would be room for
arbitrariness which would lead to the insecurity of legal freedom of the citizens.
