ABSTRACT
Rules have often been advocated as a means of controlling governmental discretions. 1 Indeed, when discussing how a governmental activity should be carried out there is a strong temptation (especially for lawyers) to ask: ‘Should this activity be governed by rules or discretion?’ Assessing governmental processes involves, however, far broader issues than arc encompassed in the ‘rules versus discretion’ debate. The operation of government gives rise to a host of questions concerning the exercise of power and the acceptability of various means to control or facilitate the exercise of that power.
