A CONFUSION OF POWERS: POLITICS AND THE RULE OF LAW*
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1977.tb01484.x |
| Author | Ralf Dahrendorf |
| Published date | 01 January 1977 |
| Date | 01 January 1977 |
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Volume
40
January
1377
No.
1
A
CONFUSION
OF
POWERS:
POLITICS
AND THE RULE
OF
LAW*
IT
is perhaps understandable that
a
non-lawyer invited
to
deliver
this distinguished lecture, and even threatened by its publication in a
law review of high repute,
feels
a
sense of awe and embarrassment.
I
would like you to ascribe to these sentiments the somewhat cumber-
some, if not contrived title which
I
originally gave to my lecture:
<<
A
Confusion of Powers. Politics by Jurisdiction and the Partisan
Administration of Law.” Today, and despite the fact that my sense of
awe is undiminished,
I
can put
in
much simpler terms what
I
want
to
say
:
It is an
apercu
in political theory, concerned with the question
of what one might usefully do, if not only the law, but politics too
is
in
a
muddle, because the law is both
a
sought-after panacea and
a
resented intruder, and whether there
is
anything we can learn from
looking at other countries, and at past masters of the theory of the
separation, or distribution of powers. While in the course
of
this
lecture
I
shall have
to
r&r to several great and difficult issues.
generally by quoting others, what
I
have
to
offer is no more than
a
footnote,
a
reminder of traditional wisdom. Let me try to present the
problem
as
I
discovered it myself, that is, by the puzzling contrast
of
German political experience and British political debate-WiUy
Brandt
v.
Sir Leslie Scarman,
if
you want to personalise the case.
The story deserves our attention.
German politics since 1969 has been characterised by
a
heightened
sense
of
controversy. Polarisation and emotionally charged disputes
have replaced differences of view and calm debate. The first cause
and expression of this new mood was the controversy surrounding
a
uew
Ostpolitik.
In the attempt
to
normalise relations between the
Federal Republic and Germany’s East European neighbours, treaties
were negotiated in the years after 1970 with nearly all East European
countries
as
well
as
the German Democratic Republic. The first
of
these, thosei with the Soviet Union and Poland, were controversial.
because while they were ostensibly aiming at
‘*
renunciation of force
”
agreements, they involved a
de
fact0
recognition of post-war borders.
The ratification debate almost brought Willy Brandt’s government
on June
23,
1976.
*
This
is
the Afth
Chorley
Lecture
delivered
at the
London
School
of
Economic5
1
VOL.
40
(I)
1
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