University Of Peshawar

Law College
Constitutional law (I)
lecture:6
2020
BS 3RD SEMESTER
ADVOCATE KAINAAT SHAH
 RULE OF LAW

 The rule of law is a fundamental doctrine by which

every individual must obey and submit to the law, and
not arbitrary action by other people of groups.
 In essence, no one is above the law. The United
Kingdom does not have a written constitution.
 The rule of law, along with Parliamentary Sovereignty
and court rulings, is fundamentally the defining principle
of our ‘unwritten constitution’.
 The rule of law comprises a number of fundamental
principles and values.
 THREE ASPECTS OF RULE OF LAW

 Rule of Law implies three aspects:

 a) No person can be detained unlawfully without his guilt being proved in
a court of law.
 b) All citizens stand equal in the eyes of law and none is above law.
 c) Fundamental rights of the citizens are, in the larger part, creator of
certain rules of
 constitutional law.
 DICEY

 AV Dicey, who first outlined the rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty,
believed that equality before the law was extremely important – that
officials should be dealt with by the same court as the ordinary citizen,
demonstrating to the general masses that the government was not being
unjustly lenient on an official.
 INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY

 Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be

independent from the other branches of government or the politician in
office.
 That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other
branches of government or from private or partisan interests.
 Judicial independence is important to the idea of separation of powers.
 UNIVERSAL ADULT SUFFERAGE

 Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and

common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult
citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race,
ethnicity, or any other restriction, subject only to relatively minor
exceptions.
LOCAL GOVERNEMNT INSTITUTIONS

 There is no single system of local government in the United Kingdom.

 Each constituent country (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
has a different system of local government.
 There are two common systems of local government in the UK:the old-style
two-tier system the newer single-tier system
 OLDER SYSTEM

 The older (and more complex) two-tier system consists of:

 County Councils responsible for education, social services, libraries, main
roads, trading standards, some public transport and other local functions.
 District Councils responsible for rubbish collection, granting planning
permission and council housing, leisure, local roads, and environmental
health
 SINGLE TIER SYSTEM

 Unitary Authorities: have a single-tier system (only one level) of local

government, and combine District and County Council functions into one
body.
 In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared
between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority
which is headed by an elected Mayor
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND


For the purposes of local government, England is divided into four levels of
administrative divisions:
 Regional level
 County level (Metropolitan county, Shire county, Unitary authority, Greater
London)
 District level (Metropolitan district, Non-metropolitan district, London
borough)
 Parish level (Civil Parish)
GAP BETWEEN PRACTICE AND
REALITY