LAWS(SC)-1990-11-35

STATE OF HARYANA Vs. BHAJAN LAL

Decided On November 21, 1990
STATE OF HARYANA Appellant
V/S
BHAJAN LAL Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) "The king is under no man, but under God and the law" - was the reply of the Chief Justice of England, Sir Edward Coke when James-I once declared "Then I am to be under the law. It is treason to affirm it" - so wrote Henry Bracton who was a Judge of the King's Bench.

(3.) The words of Bracton in his treatise in Latin "quod Rex non debat esse sub homine, sed sub Deo et Lege". (That the king should not be under man, but under God and the law) were quoted time and time again when the Stuart kings claimed to rule by divine right. We would like to quote and requote those words of Sir Edward Coke even at the threshold.