Rule Against Bias - Origin, Exception & Application

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A Research On The Origin, Exceptions And Application Of The Rule Against Bias INTRODUCTION We do not have a developed system of administrative law, perhaps because until fairly recently we did not need it. -Justice Reid in Ridge v Baldwin (1963) Bias is a peculiar phenomenon that we encounter even in our common day work. Simply put it is the lack of neutrality. For example a teacher may be biased toward a student who happens to be his/her relative, a license grantor may be biased towards a candidate who is friend or a relative. Many a times this goes unnoticed, as in the example cited above, they are acts of bias that do not affect a substantial proportion of the general population. But, it is an altogether different case when bias makes a debut in adjudicative action. This article aims to thoroughly scrutinize the evolution of bias, dating right back to the 1600’s, to give the reader a succinct understanding of the consequences it can have in not only judicial but also administrative actions. Essentially, the presence of potential impartiality was observed in England, where the celebrated Latin phrase Nemo judex in re causo suo originated. This maxim is one of the pillars of the Principles of Natural Justice, the other being Audi Alteram Partem. Natural justice, as will be made to understand, cannot be said to have been done if these two undisputed essentials are not adhered to. ‘No man can be a judge in his own cause’ speaks for itself. Yet, there have been multifarious instances where bias has managed to penetrate and disrupt the course of justice. Bias manifests not in one but three wide forms, each having various classification within itself. They manifest as personal, pecuniary and official forms of bias. For the sake of profound understanding and exploration of one branch of bias, the author has chosen to base this research on official bias, with
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