Every vigilant member of the society must have heard or read the term natural justice at least once in his lifetime. Comprehending the term from its literal meaning would wrongly lead people to think that natural justice refers to justice which, naturally, occurs over the course of nature or course of time. People might even, end up corelating it with the laws of Karma. However, that would be a very incorrect assumption. What should be the most obvious corelation with natural justice is the concept of fairness.
Fairness is what ultimately culminates into justice. Fairness forms the central aspect of natural justice. Revolving around this central aspect, natural justice has other components as well, which can be understood only after thoroughly understanding the idea of fairness in upholding justice. Fairness, in simple words, means avoiding impartiality; distancing oneself from having any sort of bias. It is integral in order to have a reasoned decision making. Fairness, as stilled in the idea of Natural Justic, safeguards the rule of law in a country. As we know that the rule of law deals with administrative law, natural justice becomes an integral administrative law concept, whilst being a legal doctrine as well.
Over the course of its implementation and study, three major principles of natural justice have been developed, which are: Audi Alteram Partem, Nemo Judex in Causa Sua and Speaking orders. These three principles will be dealt in detail in the later part of this article, after having dealt with the historical background of natural justice. The last part of the article isabout determining how relevant are the principles of natural justice in a country like India.
The concept of natural justice is an old one. It has been in existence since the Greek period. The Greeks were an important promulgator of the idea of justice which was based on impartiality. They believed that true justice would occur only when both the parties are heard without any prejudice. They named this notion of treating individuals equally in the eyes of law as “Dike”. The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle is often associated with the principles of equality, justice and fair trial both in Greece and world-wide. Not only the Greeks, even the Romans believed in such an idea.
Infact, the terms jus naturale and lex naturale, from which the term natural justice has been derived, are Roman words. These terms basically refer to justice which is based on fairness, equity and rationality. Natural justice along with the Stoic philosophy formed the core of justice in the Roman period. Romans equated natural justice with morality as well. They believed that natural justice was a higher level of justice, often transcending human realms. As the Roman Empire grew in size, the need to develop auniform legal system was realised. The developed system came be known as the Roman Legal System, which had an important component known as the “ius gentium” which meant “laws of nation”.
It can simply be understood as an extension of the idea of having the same laws for everyone to the various nation states. Resulting, in having the same set of laws for a number of countries, on the premise that same laws should be made applicable to all the gentes. Thus, making the Roman Empire contribute greatly to the idea of natural justice. Apart from the Greeks and Romans, Egyptians, too, have had a fair share of contribution to the development of the principles of natural justice. Legal proceedings in the ancient Egypt were rooted on the principle of Ma’at, which was the symbol of truth, harmony and equity in the country. It was the ethical, moral and legal doctrine that all the Egyptians were expected to follow and abide by. It had a female personification in the form of a Goddess who stood for balance and order in the society.
Since she was creation personified, she was against chaos and violence of any form. She was justice herself, who protected the victims of unfairness and ensured the survival of her creation. As this principle of Ma’at established fairness, equity and justice in ancient Egypt, it came under the broader head of natural justice. Further, the Europe too witnessed the occurrence of natural justice at various instances, such as, the Catholic Church emphasising on establishing procedures that would uphold equality at a larger society level, leading to the emergence of the Canon law.
The Catholic Church viewed natural justice as the divine law, thus pushing for its application. Furthermore, several European philosophers and liberated thinkers such as John Locke, were seen demanding equality to be the most crucial aspect of all laws and procedures throughout the Renaissance and Enlightenment period.Lastly, this thought was again reinforced at a global stage when the United Nations was established in the year 1945, as it sought to protect individual rights and freedom through its objectives and associated bodies at an International level.
We must now, understand the three primary principles of natural justice in depth. The first principle i.e. “Audi Aletram Partem” basically means “let the other side be heard”. It provides that every individual has the right to put forth his side of the story, without which no judgement shall ever be delivered. A real and clear picture would only be ascertained when all the involved parties narrate their version without any fabrication. Punishing someone without hearing their defence is not justice.
Thus, Audi Alteram Partem forms a legal system rooted in the idea of providing every individual with the right of being heard and the right ofhaving a fair trial. A fair trial is one wherein both the accused and the defendant receive proper and timely notifications from the court along with having the right to present their respective accounts and evidences while at the same time cross examining one another. The second principle i.e “Nemo Judex in Causa Sua” means “no one should be a judge in his own case”. This principle is what ensures impartiality in legal proceedings.
In case, a person against whom a charge has been filed, becomes the judge in his case, he would obviously render a judgement in his favour. The same can, also, happen when the charged individual happens to know the judge. The judge being a friend, relative or well-wisher of the accused could discharge him knowing fully that he is guilty of the pressed charged. Hence, in order to avoid this impartiality, the judge must refuse from deciding a case of any of his relations or even his own case. The primary objective of this principle is to avoid bias and maintain public confidence in the legal system.
The third principle is “Speaking Orders” which means that the court and other legal authorities must explain the reason behind their decisions. The court cannot simply rule in favour of one party without giving a detailed explanation of doing so, in the form of a delivered judgment. It prevents arbitrary exercise of judicial powers and functions. It erases the suspicions of injustice. Lastly, it enables the individuals to appeal in higher courts, as without stating what part of the order is in violation of the plaintiff’s rights and freedom, an appeal cannot be made to the higher authorities.
Moving on to the most important part of this article, i.e. how relevant are these principles in a diverse country like India, which also happens to have the largest constitution in the world. Does the Indian constitution have any provisions with regards to natural justice? A thorough reading and comprehension of the Indian constitution would make one realise that the Articles 14, 21, 22 and 39 of the constitution deal with the principles of natural justice in India and these articles are highly relevant with dealing with any suit in the country.
Article 14 ensures equality before the law and provides equal protection of laws to all the Indian citizens. It is instrumental when any arbitrariness occurs in the exercise of governmental or judicial powers. It protects the innocents and the weaker sections of the society from arbitrariness and any form of discrimination. It enables the law to look beyond an individual’s status and render a fair judgement. Article 21 guarantees the right to life and liberty. It empowers the Indian citizens to make their own reasoned life choices, and the state has no say in their personal life decisions and choices.
This article played a key role in decriminalising homosexuality in Indian in the year 2018. As love is a personal human decision, not subjected to any civilisational pressure. It is a conduct between two adults and adults are free to make their own decisions as per the constitution. Article 22 is the pulse of natural justice in India as it lays down the principles and procedure of fair trial that would be applied to every suit filed in the country. It seeks to provide a fair trial to every arrested person irrespective of the offence he or she is labelled to have committed. Thus, upholding the principles of “Audi Alteram Partem” and “Nemo Judex in Causa Sua” as these form the basis of fair trial all over the globe.
Although not yet enforced, the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) enshrined in Article 39 of the constitution seek to uplift the economically, socially and politically backward classes of the country. Thus, seeking to ensure equity and balance in the country. It is well-known fact that the preamble of the Indian constitution rightly contains all the major ideas the country stands for and follows, just a mere reading of the preamble would give away that Indian state deeply imbibes the concept of natural justice in its day to day operation. Instead of simply mentioning the term natural justice, the preamble uses an explanatory phrase i.e. “Justice Social, Economic and Political”, which clearly indicates that there exists freedom of thought, belief, worship etc.in the country, making it the just democratic republic that it is.
In conclusion, natural justice is far from being the justice delivered by nature. It is conceptual framework developed over the course of human history and mankind. Empires after Empires and Governments after Governments have backed it and stood firm its enforcement. It is one of the building blocks of a sound legal system especially the legal system of any democratic nation.
REFERENCES
- www.legalservicesindia.com
- www.lawbhoomi.com
- legalvidhiya.com/natural-justice/
- lawcorner.in
- theindianlaw.in
- jpassociates.co.in
Author Name: Saniya Dave, a fourth-year law student at NMIMS Kirit P. Mehta School of Law, Mumbai.
