Rule of Law

Democracy and Democratic Society

• Democracy comes from the Greek word, “demos,” meaning people. In democracies, it is the people
who hold sovereign power over legislator and government.
• Although nuances apply to the world's various democracies, certain principles and practices
distinguish democratic government from other forms of government.
• Democracy is government in which power and civic responsibility are exercised by all citizens,
directly or through their freely elected representatives.
• Democracy is a set of principles and practices that protect human freedom; it is the
institutionalization of freedom.
• Democracy rests upon the principles of majority rule, coupled with individual and minority rights.
All democracies, while respecting the will of the majority, zealously protect the fundamental rights
of individuals and minority groups.
• Democracies guard against all-powerful central governments and decentralize government to
regional and local levels, understanding that local government must be as accessible and responsive
to the people as possible.
 Democracy and Democratic
Society
• Democracies understand that one of their prime functions is to protect such basic human
rights as freedom of speech and religion; the right to equal protection under law; and the
opportunity to organize and participate fully in the political, economic, and cultural life of
society.
• Democracies conduct regular free and fair elections open to all citizens. Elections in a
democracy cannot be facades that dictators or a single party hide behind, but authentic
competitions for the support of the people.
• Democracy subjects governments to the rule of law and ensures that all citizens receive
equal protection under the law and that their rights are protected by the legal system.
• Democracies are diverse, reflecting each nation's unique political, social, and cultural life.
Democracies rest upon fundamental principles, not uniform practices.
• Citizens in a democracy not only have rights, they have the responsibility to participate in
the political system that, in turn, protects their rights and freedoms.
• • Democratic societies are committed to the values of tolerance, cooperation, and
compromise. Democracies recognize that reaching consensus requires compromise and
that it may not always be attainable. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “intolerance is
itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.”
Democratic
Principles
Watching video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVhb5ltMHC4

• https://vimeo.com/503045928
Rules
 The History of the Rule of Law
• In the late Roman period, the view was established that royalty was above the law
and subject only to the law of God and not to other men. The path to the
institutionalism of the rule of law advanced and then at times was weakened.
The Magna Carta 1215 enshrined the principle that the King was not above the law.
Barons demanded that King John accept the Charter after a period of domestic
unrest due to the King's focus on foreign war and his raising of taxes to finance the
war with France. The final version of the Magna Carta provides that:
• No bailiff should prosecute without producing witnesses in evidence;
• Lawful imprisonment or exile requires judgement by one's peers in accordance with
the law of the land;
• Right or justice cannot be denied to delayed;
• Knowledge of the law must exist before it can be enforced;
• Restorative justice should exist where one’s land or liberties are removed without a
legal sentence of one's peers;
• Unjust and illegal that the King had imposed should be repaid;
• No one is above the law including the clergy or laity as far as it pertains to them.
 Dicey and the Rule of Law

• A.V. Dicey, Introduction to the Study of Law of the Constitution (1885;

10th edn., Macmillan & Co., 1959) pp.187-95. Dicey writing about the
rule of law in the 19th century still has significance in today's debates.
For Dicey, the rule of law was a particularly British achievement,
marking out the United Kingdom as superior to other countries. For
Dicey the supremacy of the rule of law has three distinct though
related conceptions.
• No individual can be punished except through the process of law and
the courts.
• No one is above the law; this includes the Prime Minister who is
subject to the ordinary law in the same way that other citizens are.
• The constitution is pervaded by the rule of law, since general
principles of the constitution are the results of judicial decisions which
determine the rights of private citizens.
AV Dicey and the Rule of Law

• The supremacy of the law: According to Dicey, the law is supreme and is above all
individuals and institutions, including the government. This means that no one is
above the law, and that all individuals and institutions are subject to the same legal
rules.

• Equality before the law: Dicey believed that the law should be applied equally and
impartially to all individuals, regardless of their status or position in society. This
means that everyone should have the same rights and be subject to the same legal
rules, without discrimination or favouritism.

• The role of common law: Dicey believed that the common law was a key part of the
rule of law, as it represented the accumulation of legal principles and precedents
over time. He argued that the common law provided stability and predictability in
the legal system, and that it was essential for protecting individual rights and
freedoms.
Judicial interpretation of the rule of law

No one must be Individuals' rights are

Government under
punished by the state protected through the
law: equality before
except for a breach of ordinary law and the
the law
the law ordinary court system

Legal certainty and Fair hearing by an The rule of law and

non-retrospectivity independent judiciary substantive judgments
 • Rule by law means using law as a tool of political
repression and enforcing it unequally on the parties,
with a different set of rules favouring a few sections of
the society.
• Rule by law can become an instrument of oppression.
It can give legitimacy to the enactment of laws which
may grossly violate basic human rights.

Rule by Law •

•
Examples of Rule by Law
Britishers used “Rule by Law”, rather than “Rule of
Law”, as it aimed at controlling the Indian subjects.
Our struggle for independence thus marked our
journey towards the establishment of a state defined
by the Rule of Law.
• Nazi Germany put Jews in concentration camps and
thereafter sent them to the gas chambers. The
justification offered was that there was a law which
empowered such acts to be done. But that was rule
by law, not Rule of Law.
difference between rule by
law and rule of law

• Rule by law indicates that decisions are

forced upon a citizenry, while rule of law is
to control the unlimited exercise of the
power by the supreme lawmaking
authority of the land. It is a just application
of the law for everybody, keeping in mind
that the law doesn’t go against basic
precepts of humanity.
 Group Task
Discussion on reading
Group
Work Example of rule of law
Example of rule by law
•Thank You