Abstract

Western thought has long assumed the need for procedural fairness when a person is under threat from official action. In the common law, the decision-making body (whether a formal court or merely an arm of the executive) is required, first, to give notice of the allegation and allow the affected party to put on evidence and submissions in rebuttal (audi alteram partem) and, second, to conduct itself fairly—that is, without bias. The following article addresses the history and present condition of the first of these arms, viewed at critical points in development.

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