Essay Example on How the rule of law protects citizens against unlawful executive action

In the course of this essay I will discuss in relation to the two schools of thought on the Rule of Law and how the rule of law protects citizens against unlawful executive action due to the government being restrained from acting without authority whilst focusing on whether its precise content goals and application continues to lack clarity The rule of Law is well known to not have a single agreed definition but actually multiple opposing meanings although the core of the rule of Law can be lifted from Tom Bingham All persons and authorities within the state whether public or private should be bound by and entitled to the benefit of laws publicly and prospectively promulgated and publicly administered by the courts 1 The leading concept of the rule of law is that the law should secure the relationship between the government and the people therefore protecting the people from excessive governmental power The rule of law is the idea that the law should govern protect and apply to all conduct and behaviour which also includes both private and public officials thus it highlights its main notions that no one is above the law there is equality for all before the law and that despite anything that the law is always applied Moreover I will now focus on the two schools of thought that are one of the most obvious reasons of its multiple definitions 

Formal conceptions of the rule of law address the way in which the law was promoted by discussing whether it was sanctioned by an authorised person in an legal and authorised way Furthermore is the law sufficiently clear to guide an individual's behaviour Thus formal rule of law believes laws must adhere to certain procedural requirements The formal view does not target the morality of the law but instead focused on whether the law matches up to the criteria of the Rule of Law Joseph Raz is a core promoter of the formal rule of law and states that in order to achieve the desired certainty laws should be prospective clear adjudged by an independent judiciary and must allow its citizens access to the courts 2 Therefore formal rule of law does not intend to pass judgment upon the actual content of the law itself It is less concerned as to whether the law is a good law or a bad law but actually that the goals of the rule of law are met and thus working as a shield between the individual and excessive governmental power In opposition substantive conceptions of the rule of law focus on the morality of the law and not only the practicality They accept that the rule of law has the formal qualities however they prefer to discuss it on a more moral level Substantive conceptions prefer to use the formal law criteria as a basis and then differentiate between what is a morally good law or bad laws Leon Fuller a legal philosopher who discussed the morality of law 3 analysis takes a much more substantive view than Raz s 

This suggested that the legal system was run by society and thus governments could only do what is consented by the law Furthermore every man whatever be his rank or condition is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals This could be interpreted that all individuals are equal and not based on classes therefore even if they break the law all individuals will be punished and sentenced the same way by the same law and the same concept Therefore the governments and individuals will all obey the same law and so there will be no special cases Finally There is no need for a bill of rights because the general principle of the constitution are the result of judicial decisions determining the rights of the private person Dicey s opinions were highlighted in the case of Entick v Carrington 6 where the courts affirmed that a warrant issued by a home secretary for entry into private property and seizure of allegedly seditious material was against the law and amounted to trespass Highlighting how the Rule of law was acting as a shield between individual and excessive governmental power with full clarity in both application and content and therefore improves the protection on an individual