The Philosophy of Disciplinary Penalties in Iraqi Law

The development of the state’s role and its change from a guard role to an intrusive role and then a welfare role resulted in an increase and diversity of activities undertaken by the public administration, which contributed to the increase in public facilities and thus an increase in the number of employees to run these facilities regularly and steadily. The previous development was accompanied by another development in The field of legislation that pertains to the public job, so the state has put in place many legislations and regulations that collectively constitute the legal system for the public job, which shows how and conditions for joining the job and includes the job rights and duties associated with it. Another development also occurred regarding the relationship between the state and its employees. It is no longer as it was in the past a contractual relationship, but has become a regulatory relationship regulated by laws and regulations. Given the link between discipline and the legal system of the public office, it has also developed progressively with it. When the job was considered a mere license in the hands of the public administration, which it gives to whomever it wants and withholds from whomever it wants, discipline is also considered a sword in its hand, which it uses as it wants (3). Disciplinary guarantees occupy a place of great importance within the scope of penal systems, as justice in its many forms, judicial, administrative and social, will not be achieved unless a number of guarantees are established for the accused in all stages of the trial. There is no doubt that disciplinary guarantees, within the scope of the public office, occupies the same importance assigned to them within the scope of the punitive system. The disciplinary law is, in fact, a punitive law that concerns a particular group, which is the category of public officials. Therefore, the procedures that surround the stages of inflicting the penalty are tantamount to guarantees for employees. It aims to put them away from the arbitrariness of the disciplinary authority and as a means to limit the injustice of the disciplinary authority while it is in the process of imposing punishment. Based on the foregoing, it can be said that the disciplinary guarantees that must be observed before, during and after the imposition of punishment on the public employee, have become one of the foundations required by the rules of justice and fairness and should be observed even without the need for an explicit text to determine it. There is no more effective way to achieve the proper functioning within the corridors of the public administration than to achieve a degree of job security for its employees by preserving their rights and providing guarantees that ensure that the disciplinary authority is not arbitrary towards them.