Constitutional and Administrative Law - The rule of Law and Human Essay

Constitutional and Administrative Law - The rule of Law and Human rights - Essay Example Was it so hard for Socrates to conclude that he constituted ‘a majority of one2’ on that matter? No doubt Socrates, having believed in the Rule of Law when he was alive sought to die in the same manner. This discussion will seek to explore the notion of the supremacy of law and in light of any exposition obtained will consider whether Socrates could have chosen another way to enlighten us. The idea of the supremacy of law is ideally one of the fundamental principles in a society, translating into the law being above all and all being subject to the ordinary law of the land. As such there exist a variety of views about the rule of law, forming a spectrum in light of the culture or society in consideration. What is significant is the recognition of the existence of the rule of law in various societies and to mark how this creature has changed shape over the centuries. For instance, half a millennium ago the rule of law would be seen to be present where the monarch ruled by right of conquest and everyone else was subservient to the monarchy. The monarchs were later substituted for ruling senates or governments but the status of the conquered nations would remain the same. This is exemplified by the Greek, Roman and later the British colonial empires where the conquered peoples were subject to the law introduced by the conquerors. Today such a rule would be considered und emocratic and singularly abhorrent. In the West, freedom had already attained its due significance as long ago as the Battle of Thermopylae and although it has often been in danger since then it is now too deeply ingrained in the system to be rooted out. It is this freedom that has led to liberal democracies and the idea of the rule of law as understood here is different from the eastern-more conservative societies. The supremacy of law in the West is often taken to be a fundamental principle because it gives way to equality, thereby making all equal, with none being above the

Law studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Law studies - Essay Example This article is about the British House of Lords. ... The House of Commons pertains to the section of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which is also comprised of the Sovereign and the House of Lords. In this light, it could be noted that the Parliament Acts have been used to enact legislation which ultimately opposes the wishes of the Lords on simply 7 occasions since 1911, an example of which is the enactment of the Parliament Act 1949. However there are still doubts put forward regarding the validity of the 1949 Act, and the members of the Countryside Alliance took a case to court to challenge the validity of the Hunting Act 2004 (Parliamentary Standard Note on the Parliament Acts, 2004). In October 2005, the House of Lords sacked an appeal by the Countryside Alliance, with a strangely large panel of nine law lord’s maintaing that the 1949 Act was valid. A previous Parliament Act, the Parliament Act 1660, was repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969. The long title of the Parliament Act 1911 is (The Guardian, 2003): The long title (properly, the title) is one of the parts, together with the short title, and the operative provisions (sections and Schedules), which comprise an Act of Parliament or Bill in the United Kingdom and certain other Commonwealth Realms. ... The Act serves as a response to the conflict involving the Liberal government and the House of Lords, concluding in the so-called "Peoples Budget" of the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George during the year1909, which put forward the initiation of a land tax which was rooted to the ideas of the American tax reformer Henry George. This would have had a key influence on large landowners as well as the Conservative opposition, which is generally comprised of large landowners, if it had a large majority in the Lords. In addition they