Argumentative Essay On Natural Justice

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Natural justice is a humanising principle for it seeks to ensure that law is fair and just and that there occurs no miscarriage of justice. The phrases ‘substantial justice’, ‘fundamental justice’, ‘universal justice’ or ‘fair play in action’ also alludes to the notion of natural justice. It functions on the basis of preconceptions such as ‘man is basically good and hence he must not be harmed’ and ‘one ought to treat others as one would like oneself to be treated’. Though considered a highly noble concept that has much potential, there exists no definition for the same, because the vagueness and ambiguity of the concept is so much so that it has been criticized as ‘sadly lacking in precision’ as per the 1914 decision of R v. Local Government Board, ex p Arlidge . In spite of its flaws, natural justice is widely accepted, adopted and enforced and is considered “an essential part of the philosophy of law.” You may beg to differ with the previous statement saying ‘uncertainty of law is a cardinal sin’. However, do bear in mind that the vice of said uncertainty is far outweighed by virtues such as greater possibilities of fairness and prevention of miscarriage of justice among others that the law of natural justice offers. Natural justice mandates procedural fairness and hence seeks to make the decision-making process fair and reasonable. Actions of the public authorities are also subject to be governed by the principles of natural justice. Such actions come under the ambit of administrative law for it is the law that deals with the decision-making of administrative units of the government (administrative tribunals, commissions etc).
If one were to trace the history of administrative law, he would stumble up on the conclusion that a...

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...f natural justice must be applied to such cases.
Apart from the abovementioned, there exist numerous instances of administrative action where principles of natural justice must be applied. Deletion of the name of a person from the election roll, termination of citizenship of an Indian citizen owing to him having acquired the citizenship of another country, an application for winding up by a co-operative society due to insolvency etc are a few examples of the same. The fact that it is somewhat a hectic task to enumerate and elucidate such quasi-judicial and administrative functions is testament to the growth of administrative law as a body of law. It is also further testament to the necessity of the application of principles of natural justice to ensure that the concept of fair play is very much in play as far the growing realm of administrative law is concerned.

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