Pleasure Doctrine or Servants of the People Doctrine, Which Way for Kenyan Courts?

Abstract

In feudal England the Crown could dismiss their servants without assigning any cause and where there were contracts of service a term was be implied that the Crown could terminate the contract at will-pleasure doctrine. This position was imported in the legal systems of some Common Law jurisdictions like Kenya, India, Canada and Australia. Nonetheless, the doctrine has undergone evolutions thus though applicable in some jurisdictions it operates in a restricted form. To that extent this paper focuses on pleasure doctrine in Kenya. It argues that some civil servants serve at the will of the President as they are independent contractors hence can be dismissed without assigning any cause.

Keywords: Pleasure, doctrine, servants of the people, doctrine