Doctrines
Rule of Law
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Origin Earliest documented ancestor Magna Carta (1215); given its classic modern legal formulation by A.V. Dicey in Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885).
The rule of law is the doctrine that all governmental power must be exercised within and according to established law, applied by regular courts through fair procedure, never at the unrestrained discretion of any ruler or official. Its earliest documented ancestor in English law is Magna Carta (1215), whose guarantee against arbitrary punishment except by the lawful judgment of a person's peers or by the law of the land is also due process's own earliest source, and the two doctrines developed from that same clause along related but distinct lines. A.V. Dicey gave the rule of law its classic modern legal formulation in Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885), stating it as three linked propositions: that no person is punishable except for a distinct breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts, that every person, however high his station, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals, and that the general principles of the constitution are themselves the result of judicial decisions determining the rights of private persons in particular cases brought before the courts, rather than the source of those rights.
Facts
Origin PeriodEarliest documented ancestor Magna Carta (1215); given its classic modern legal formulation by A.V. Dicey in Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885). 1 Core PrincipleNo person, however powerful, stands above the ordinary law of the land; governmental power is exercised only within legal limits, through regular courts and fair, previously established procedure. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Both doctrines trace to the same Magna Carta clause and developed along related but distinct lines: due process constrains the state's treatment of a specific person, while the rule of law constrains the state's exercise of power generally.
Entick v Carrington is a foundational English rule-of-law case: it holds that executive officials may act only within powers granted by law.
Held Differently
Rechtsstaat, Doctrines Rechtsstaat is the German and wider continental civil law tradition's own formulation of the principle that governmental power is bound by law, a different account of the rule of law rather than a rejection of it.
Civil Law, Legal Systems Civil law systems generally express the rule of law through the Rechtsstaat tradition and codified principles of legality rather than through the common law rule of law as such.
Established By
Why this is disputed. Clauses 39 and 40 of the 1215 charter are the most frequently cited medieval ancestor, but as with due process, the connection runs chiefly through Coke's seventeenth century reinterpretation rather than a direct 1215 intention; scholars debate how much continuity genuinely exists versus how much was read backward onto the text.
Formulated By
Dicey's three-part account (regular law over arbitrary power, equality before the law, the constitution as a result of ordinary law) is the classic modern formulation, not the concept's origin, which predates him.
In Legal System
Dicey's classic formulation is the doctrine's English common law statement; civil law systems recognize closely analogous fair-governance guarantees under related principles such as the principle of legality (Rechtsstaat), rather than under the same name.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Political Atlas: Rule of Law, the same subject.
Sources
1. Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution
A. V. Dicey, Macmillan and Co., 1885In Legal System: Common Law
1. Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution
A. V. Dicey, Macmillan and Co., 1885Formulated By: A. V. Dicey
2. Black's Law Dictionary
Bryan A. Garner, editor; founded by Henry Campbell Black, Thomson Reuters
Rule of Law (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, definitionQuote, Lead section, definition
The rule of law is a political and legal principle that generally entails and ensures that the law is clear, consistent and open; individuals and groups have access to justice (such as fair, independent judiciaries); and that government institutions (such as the executive, legislature and judiciary) are subject to the law.
Rechtsstaat (Wikipedia)
Entick v Carrington (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Entick v Carrington
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