by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
The judgments ought to be fixed, and to such a degree, as to be always conformable to the exact letter of the law. Were they to be the private opinion of the judge, people would then live in a society without knowing exactly the obligation it lays them under....
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
It is discretion alone that is responsible for corruption. A local government official cannot take a bribe from a developer if he has no discretion to determine the outcome. The same holds true for the immigration official, the mayor, the procurement officer, and the...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
When a law grants discretion to public servants, it is always harmful. Wishful thinking is attracted to the idea of officials having discretion to ‘decide what is best in the circumstances.’ It conjures up images of a benevolent Solomon fairly and appropriately...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
The chief safeguard is that the rules must apply to those who lay them down and those who apply them—that is, to the government as well as the governed—and that nobody has the power to grant exceptions. —Friedrich Hayek. The Constitution of Liberty, 1960. The power to...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
It is evident that not all the acts of government can be bound by fixed rules and that at every stage of the governmental hierarchy considerable discretion must be granted to the subordinate agencies. So long as the government administers its own resources, there are...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 13, 2015 | The Rule of Law
That constitution which trusts more than it needs to any man, or body of men, has a terrible flaw in it, and is big with the seeds of its own destruction. Hence arose tyrants, and tyranny, and standing armies: Marius, and Caesar, and Oliver Cromwell. How...
