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Timestamp: 2019-04-19 18:41:37+00:00

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(i) Absence of discretionary powers and supremacy of Law: viz. no man is above law. No man is punishable except for a distinct breach of law established in an ordinary legal manner before ordinary courts. The government cannot punish any one merely by its own fiat. Persons in authority do not enjoy wide, arbitrary or discretionary powers. Dicey asserted that wherever there is discretion there is room for arbitrariness.
(ii) Equality before law: Every man, whatever his rank or condition, is subject to the ordinary law and jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. No person should be made to suffer in body or deprived of his property except for a breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of the land.
(iii) Predominance of legal spirit: The general principles of the British Constitution, especially the liberties and the rights of the people must come from traditions and customs of the people and be recognized by the courts in administration of justice from time to time.
The doctrine of Rule of Law as enunciated by Dicey has been adopted and very succinctly incorporated in the Indian Constitution. The ideals of the Constitution viz; justice, liberty and equality are enshrined in the Preamble itself (which is part of the Constitution).
The Constitution of India has been made the supreme law of the country and other laws are required to be in conformity with it. Any law which is found in violation of any provision of the Constitution, particularly, the fundamental rights, is declared void.  The Indian Constitution also incorporates the principle of equality before law and equal protection of laws enumerated by Dicey under Article 14  .
The very basic human right to life and personal liberty has also been enshrined under Article 21. Article 19(1) (a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees the third principle of the Rule of law (freedom of speech and Expression). No person can be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence is also very well recognized in the Indian Constitution.  The principles of double jeopardy and self-incrimination also found its rightful place in the Constitution.  Articles 14, 19 and 21 are so basic that they are also called the golden triangle Articles of the Indian Constitution.
The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, shocked the status of Rule of law in India. The question which came up for consideration in Shankari Prasad v. Union of India  was whether the fundamental rights can be amended under Article 368. The Supreme Court held that Parliament has the power to amend Part III of the Constitution under Article 368 as under Article 13 ‘law’ means any legislative action and not a constitutional amendment. Therefore, a constitutional amendment would be valid if abridges any of the fundamental rights.
The question again came up for consideration in Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan  in which the Supreme Court approved the majority judgment in Shankari Prasad case and held that amendment of the Constitution means amendment of all provisions of the Constitution. Hon’ble Chief Justice Gajendragadkar held that if the framers of the constitution intended to exclude fundamental rights from the scope of the amending power they would have made a clear provision in that behalf.
However, both these cases were overruled by the Apex Court in Golaknath v. State of Punjab  and it held that Parliament has no power to amend the Part III of the Constitution so as to take away or abridges the fundamental rights and thus, at the end the Rule of law was sub-served by the Judiciary from abridging away. However, the Rule of law was crumpled down with the Constitution (Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1971. Parliament by the way of this Amendment inserted a new clause (4) in Article 13 which provided that ‘nothing in this Article shall apply to any amendment of this constitution made under Art 368’. It substituted the heading of Article 368 from ‘Procedure for amendment of Constitution’ to ‘Power of Parliament to amend Constitution and Procedure thereof’. The Amendment not only restored the amending power of the Parliament but also extended its scope by adding the words “to amend by way of the addition or variation or repeal any provision of this constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Article”.
This was challenged in the case of Keshavananda Bharti v. State of Kerala  . The Supreme Court by majority overruled the decision given in Golaknath’s case and held that Parliament has wide powers of amending the Constitution and it extends to all the Articles, but the amending power is not unlimited and does not include the power to destroy or abrogate the basic feature or framework of the Constitution. There are implied limitations on the power of amendment under Article 368. Within these limits Parliament can amend every Article of the Constitution. Thus, Rule of law prevailed.
The Habeas Corpus case  according to many scholars is a black mark on the rule of law. The case entails Dicey’s third principle of rule of law. The legal question in this case was whether there is any rule of law over and above the Constitutional rule of law and whether there was any rule of law in India apart from Article 21 of the Constitution regarding right to life and personal liberty. A five judge Bench with a majority of 4:1 (going by strict interpretation) held in the negative.
The majority judges held that “Article 21 is our rule of law regarding life and liberty. No other rule of law can have separate existence as a distinct right. The rule of law is not merely a catchword or incantation. It is not a law of nature consistent and invariable at all times and in all circumstances. There cannot be a brooding and omnipotent rule of law drowning in its effervescence the emergency provisions of the Constitution.”  Thus they held that Article 21 is the sole repository of right to life and liberty and during an emergency, the emergency provisions themself constitute the rule of law.
In Raman Dayaram Shetty v. International Airport Authority of India  , the Supreme Court held that the great purpose of rule of law is the protection of individual against arbitrary exercise of power, wherever it is found. In re: Arundhati Roy  , Justice Sethi observed that for achieving the establishment of the rule of law, the Constitution has assigned the special task to the judiciary.
Over the years, the Courts have used judicial activism to expand the concept of rule of law.  For example, in Courts are trying to establish a rule of law society in India by insisting on ‘fairness’. In Sheela Barse v. State of Maharashtra  the Supreme Court insisted on fairness to women in police lock-up and also drafted a code of guidelines for the protection of prisoners in police custody, especially female prisoners. In Veena Sethi v. State of Bihar  also the Supreme Court extended the reach of rule of law to the poor who constitute the bulk of India by ruling that rule of law does not merely for those who have the means to fight for their rights and expanded the locus standi principle to help the poor.
"Concept of Rule of Law." Parallelewelten.net. 11 2013. All Answers Ltd. 04 2019 <http://parallelewelten.info/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/introduction-concept-of-rule-law-essays.php?vref=1>.
"Concept of Rule of Law." Parallelewelten. Parallelewelten.net, November 2013. Web. 19 April 2019. <http://parallelewelten.info/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/introduction-concept-of-rule-law-essays.php?vref=1>.
Parallelewelten. November 2013. Concept of Rule of Law. [online]. Available from: http://parallelewelten.info/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/introduction-concept-of-rule-law-essays.php?vref=1 [Accessed 19 April 2019].
Parallelewelten. Concept of Rule of Law [Internet]. November 2013. [Accessed 19 April 2019]; Available from: http://parallelewelten.info/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/introduction-concept-of-rule-law-essays.php?vref=1.

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