Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged creation of law by a single person or group, and is used primarily by dictators and absolute monarchs, although philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben have argued that it has been generalized since World War I in all modern states, including representative democracies.
The expression is also sometimes used as a pejorative and polemical hyperbole when describing actions of democratic governments that are perceived to unduly bypass parliamentarian or popular scrutiny.
Rule by decree allows the ruler to arbitrarily create law, without approval by a legislative assembly.
When states of emergency such as martial law are in place, rule by decree is common. While rule by decree is easily susceptible to the whims and corruption of the person in power, it is also highly efficient: a law can take weeks or months to pass in a legislature, but can be created with the stroke of a pen by a leader ruling by decree. This is what makes it valuable in emergency situations. Thus, it is allowed by many Constitutions, among which is the French Constitution. U.S. presidential executive orders share some similarities with rule by decree.
Read more about Rule By Decree: The Lex Titia and Second Triumvirate, The Reichstag Fire Decree of February 28, 1933, Decrees in Democratic Regimes, Giorgio Agamben's Critique of The Use of Decrees-law
Famous quotes containing the words rule and/or decree:
“The only rule is, do what you really, impulsively, wish to do. But always act on your own responsibility, sincerely. And have the courage of your own strong emotion.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)