The New Despotism was written by Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart aka Lord Hewart of Bury, the Lord Chief Justice of England then published in 1929. His title is very much to the point. The theme is that the government wants discretionary power, unaccountable power. He was right then. He is right now. Given his background Hewart LCJ has to be regarded as authoritative.
He starts on page 9 with an administrative Act which gave the relevant Minister the "Power to remove difficulties" by making orders as he saw fit. This made it easier for the Minister to govern. It might have led to more efficient administration but it had nothing to do with Democracy, the Consent Of The Governed or the Rule Of Law.
The New Despotism ex Wiki
QUOTE
The book created "a constitutional and political storm".
It was rumoured that Whitehall "considered an attempt to boycott it".
In response the British Government appointed the Donoughmore Committee (chaired
by
Lord Donoughmore) to review the powers of Ministers, however its Report
(1932; Cmd. 4060) did not share Hewart's alarm.
The book and the Donoughmore Report provoked a group of socialist lawyers and political scientists, notably Professor Harold Laski (a member of the Donoughmore Committee ) [ a Jew, communist subversive and liar - Editor ] and Sir (William) Ivor Jennings [ an ugly Trotskyist - Editor ] to criticise the Diceyan concept of the rule of law.[4]
In 1956,
Richard Crossman published a
Fabian Society tract titled Socialism and the New Despotism where he
hoped reform of the judiciary would make the judiciary "regain the traditional
function of defending individual rights against encroachment".[5] The book is a favourite of
Margaret Thatcher's.
UNQUOTE
It sounds good to me.
Errors & omissions, broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis,
malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever; if you find any I am open to comment.
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Updated on 31/12/2017 23:31