At the advent of Human Civilization, “Men”
were Sovereign in their own, in the sense that, they were free and were not
subject to or bound by any law. Then, men were Ruled by their own conscience
and not by codified laws and were even free to the extent of inflicting
violence at their will & strength, i.e. Might is right was the scene. Men
were guided by own conscience and greed. An
action not emanating from reason and the freedom to do as one pleases.
Great Philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1671) says that prior to concept of Statehood, the man lived in chaotic conditions of
constant fear. The life in the state of nature was solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish and short. For getting self protection and avoiding misery and pain,
man voluntarily entered into a
contract and surrendered their part of
freedom to some might authority, who could
protect their lives and property, which emerged later on as the ruler and which
ultimately culminated into the shape of the State.
With the great
passage of time and centuries
together, Codified laws evolved and were introduced in Human Life.
Men came together; they voluntarily surrendered their individual sovereignty to
State sovereignty, and opted to subject themselves to laws of the land.
However, they were promised, in return, the Rule of codified laws. The rule of
codified laws purported to promise the safety of their life & their property
and also sought to guarantee the general dignity inherent
in human person along with guarantee that he will not be discriminated. This is
how the ancient contract between Men & Law came into being.
Main thrust of
the legal brains emphasizing on codification of laws, has been firstly, as a
means of attainment of human perfection and secondly to secure
liberty to individuals in the society. They all considered liberty as the
first pre-requisite for the development of
Human Personality. In their view, a State is like a family to
which the interests of its members are always dear at heart, like a family
which would not be happy if its members are in difficulty, want or trouble,
like a family which would not interfere unnecessarily with the free choice of
its members. And therefore, in the backdrop of ancient social contract, every
Society & every Individual Citizen has certain basic assumptions to take it
for granted from the Laws of the land that:
a.
His Life &
Property will be protected and his liberty will be secured
b.
He can
appropriate for his own use what he has created by his own labour and what he
has acquired under the existing economic order
c. That others
will act with due care and will not cast upon him an unreasonable risk of
injury
d.
That others will
not commit any intentional aggression
upon him
e. That people
with whom he deals will carry out their undertakings and will act in good faith
f.
That he will
have security as a job holder
g.
That the
relevant laws will bear the risk of unforeseen misfortune
h. That the law
will bear the burden of supporting him when he becomes aged
i. That complaints
made to “Hon’ble Court of Law” will
be attended with due care and attention and is duly replied.
In a democracy,
forms and degree of accountability may vary but the basic idea remains the same
that the holders of Public Office must be
publicly able to justify their exercise of power not only as legally valid but
also socially wise just and reasonable, chiefly designed to add something more
to the quality of life of its Citizens.
Democracy or
democratic dissent is to oppose or challenge the illegal acts
& omissions of and having a critical perspective about what our leaders is
doing. Either we exercise the democratic dissent and criticism of these acts
& omissions or we all lie
down and let the leader do what they want; and while we follow uncritically and
obey whatever they command, that's just what the Germans did with Hitler and
look where he got them.
Just because we
cannot see clearly the end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out
on the essential journey of law towards justice. The law is not dead, is only slept.
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