Report No. 53
12. Criticism in England.-
The propriety and even the correctness-of the English rule as to disabilities of civil servants has been criticised in modern times. The view that a, civil servant has no enforceable right to salary for services rendered has been stated to be "contrary to principle and against the weight of authority."1
A leading text book on English Constitutional law,2 after noting that it has been held that no debt is owed by the Crown to a civil servant in respect of his salary3 observes
"But it is hard to see why this need be so, and in one House of Lords case4 petition of right proceedings to determine the entitlement of a former civil servant to supplementary payments was successful."
As has been pointed out,5 the denial at law of a right to sue for his salary does not represent the true position of the civil servant.
1. D.W. Logan The Civil Servant and his Pay, (1945) 61 L.Q.R. 240, 258, Proposition-C.
2. Wade and Bradley English Constitutional Law, (1970), p. 682.
3. Lucas v. Lucas and High Commissioner for India, (1943), p. 68.
4 Sutton v. Attorney-General, (1923) 39 TLR 294 (HL).
5 Mitchell Constitutional Law, (1968), pp. 211-213.
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