The Rule of Law
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Description
The phrase “the Rule of Law” has to be distinguished from the phrase “a rule of law”. The latter phrase is used to designate some particular legal rule like the rule against perpetuities or the rule that says we have to file our taxes by a certain date. Those are rules of law, but the Rule of Law is one of the ideals of our political morality and it refers to the ascendancy of law as such and of the institutions of the legal system in a system of governance. The Rule of Law comprises a number of principles of a formal and procedural character, addressing the way in which a community is governed. The formal principles concern the generality, clarity, publicity, stability, and prospectivity of the norms that govern a society. The procedural principles concern the processes by which these norms are administered, and the institutions—like courts and an independent judiciary that their administration requires. On some accounts, the Rule of Law also comprises certain substantive ideals like a presumption of liberty and respect for private property rights. But these are much more controversial. And indeed as we shall see there is a great deal of controversy about what the Rule of Law requires.
Source Publication
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Editors/Authors
Edward N. Zalta, Uri Nodelman
Publication Date
2016
Recommended Citation
Waldron, Jeremy, "The Rule of Law" (2016). Faculty Chapters. 1555.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1555
