REFLECTIONS ON “REDISCOVERING PUBLIC LAW” AUTHORED BY MARTIN LOUGHLIN
By Hurmat Koul
A subject of vociferous international debates – Public law, as advocated by Loughlin, can be closely associated with the medieval concept of Fundamental or Primary law. Bracton in his book (On the Laws and Customs of England) claimed that although the king was the highest legal authority whose will could not be subverted by another, he remained under God and the law. A hint of this idea can well be seen in Quran which talks about Dhul-Jalaal-i-wal-Ikraam as one of the ninety-nine attributes ascribed to Allah, and it literally means, ‘Sovereign of sovereigns’. Loughlin’s idea of Political right or Public law is crystallized in the idea of governmental arrangements that seek to reconcile claims of individual autonomy with the existence of public authority, a close example of such instrumentality is the Indian Constitution. The interests of freedom and belonging are ever-contending. So, the discourse of political right involves the elaboration of a prudential language through which that negotiation is affected. I would like to endorse the author’s view about what he believes to be the sources of public law but again, the cries of belligerency or for right to self-determination cannot be ousted as clamour.
©2020- Lex Humanitariae: Journal for a Change