Article 14: Equality Before Law and Equal Protection of the Laws

In one line

The State may not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws, and those are two different guarantees which came from two different constitutions.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: article 14 provides that "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India." The first limb, equality BEFORE the law, is taken from the English rule of law as Dicey stated it, and is negative: no person is above the law, and all are equally subject to the ordinary law administered by the ordinary courts. The second limb, the equal protection OF the laws, is taken from the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and is positive: like should be treated alike, and the State must extend the same protection to persons similarly situated. From the second limb comes the doctrine of reasonable classification, and from the first the modern doctrine that equality is antithetic to arbitrariness, stated in E.P. Royappa v. State of Tamil Nadu.

The two limbs

Equality before the law. The negative concept. It means the absence of any special privilege in favour of any person, the equal subjection of all persons to the ordinary law of the land, and that no person is above the law. It has EXCEPTIONS built into the Constitution itself: article 361 gives the President and the Governors immunity from court process; articles 105 and 194 give members of the legislatures immunity for anything said or any vote given; and public international law gives immunity to foreign sovereigns, ambassadors and diplomats.

Equal protection of the laws. The positive concept. It means that among equals the law should be equal and equally administered, and that like should be treated alike. It does NOT mean that the same law must apply to everybody, because persons are not all similarly situated. From this follows the whole doctrine of classification worked in the next chapter.

Why the distinction earns marks. The first limb attacks a privilege; the second attacks a distinction. A law giving a Minister immunity from prosecution offends the first. A law giving one class of litigant a shorter limitation period without reason offends the second. A candidate who can produce an example of each has understood the article.

Who is protected, and against whom

"Any person." Article 14 is not confined to citizens. It protects a natural person of any nationality and, on the settled construction, a juristic person such as a company or a society. Contrast article 15(1) and article 16(1), which protect CITIZENS.

"The State." Article 12 defines the State to include the Government and Parliament of India, the Government and Legislature of each State, and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India. The width of "other authorities" decides who is bound.