Legal Maxims

By Vijay Kumar

Rule of law - government authority may only be exercised in accordance with written laws, which were adopted through an established procedure. The principle is intended to be a safeguard against arbitrary rulings in individual cases.

Governments shall be of laws rather than of men.

... every official, from the Prime Minister down to a constable or a collector of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without legal justification as any other citizen. The Reports abound with cases in which officials have been brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority. [Appointed government officials and politicians, alike] ... and all subordinates, though carrying out the commands of their official superiors, are as responsible for any act which the law does not authorise as is any private and unofficial person. - Albert Venn Dicey in his Law of the Constitution in 1895:

Those who make and enforce the law are themselves bound to adhere to it.

Power under Article 226 of Constitution of India has to be exercised to effectuate the rule of law and not to abrogate it – Supreme Court of India

In a democracy governed by rule of law surely the only acceptable repository of absolute discretion should be the courts. – Supreme Court of India

Natural justice is a concept which has succeeded in keeping the arbitrary action within limits and preserving the rule of law. Supreme Court of India

Power of judicial review is integral part of Constitution without it Rule of law would become a teasing illusion and promise of unreality – Supreme Court

For the rule of law to prevail in this country, the subordinate authority should follow the decision of the higher authority- CESTAT