Foundations and Principles of International Financial Law (A Comparative Study)

Abstract

Having reviewed the definition of financial law and the general budget, their characteristics and nature, and the relationship of financial law to other sciences and branches of law, we now understand that financial law encompasses the rules governing the budget in the state and public entities. It remains for us to understand that the general budget undergoes four essential stages: preparation, ratification or approval, implementation, and monitoring. As previously mentioned, the first and third stages are handled by the executive branch, the fourth by a typically independent auditing body, and the second by the legislative branch.

The legislative branch's ratification of the general budget means approving and endorsing the government's projections for future public expenditures and revenues. Therefore, the general budget is not considered final until it is adopted and ratified by the legislative branch—the House of Representatives or any other legislative body—and a law is issued to that effect, known as the "General Budget Law." The legislative authority's right to approve the general budget is the result of a long evolution and significant struggle that began in 18th-century England, where Parliament's authority over the monarch began to supersede that of the monarch when the draft budget was presented. This was slightly delayed in France until the French Revolution of 1789, but it was then that a budget, in its true sense, was established for the first time. Following this, the parliament's right to approve the general budget was firmly established and spread throughout the world, including the Arab world.