-(A) The Prime Minster of New Zealand stated that the President of the Republic of Phantasmagoria had no respect for the rule of law.
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Explain what the underlined words mean in the context of Constitutional Law.
Today, the society is governed by the law. Constitutional law is quite powerful, it determines who has the power of government; how that power is to be executive; and the relationship between the state and the individual (Hubbard, Thomas and Varnham P33).
As we studied in lecture, we have several options to answer three questions: anarchy, oligarchy, and autocracy. However, these options do not follow the rule of law, do not rule by people.
Since we are living in a big society, rather than a sole island, our actions result not only in ourselves, but also in others who are living around us in the society. Therefore, to make sure those interactions is balance and do not hurt others we need some rule to guide us actions.
The rule of law is fundamental principle for the whole society, it answer the purpose of any constitution in a democracial way. The rule of law has no exact definition. The first person attempted to identify the rule of law was Professor Dicey at the end of the nineteenth century (Hubbard, Thomas and Varnham P33). Today, based on the Professor Dicy's definition, we explain the rule of law in four aspects. .
Firstly, the individual must be protected by the state from violence whether official or unofficial, least people "take the law into their own hands".( Lecture note 4, stream A section 4.2.1).
The New Zealand Bill of Right Act 1990 is a kind of law following the rule of law to protect people from the violence. In United Kingdom, these rights are also provided by legislation such as the Habeas Corpus Acts. (Hubbard, Thomas and Varnham P34).
As introduced by the lecture, this aspect of the rule of law can be broken down visibly. For instance, as reported in one of Chinese newspapers in New Zealand, one Chinese citizen was arrested by the local police without any reliable reason and evidences, and after several months this person was died with unclear reason.
