What Are the Principles of Rule of Laws

In September this year, the Secretary-General of the United Nations will convene a “high-level segment” of the General Assembly to discuss “the rule of law at the national and international levels”. What does that mean? It is not entirely clear. Again, this is not surprising. Some jurists believe that there is a particular affinity between the rule of law and the defence and support of private property. Ronald Cass (2004:131) states that “an essential aspect of the commitment to the rule of law is the definition and protection of property rights.” A thoughtful scholar writing about the rule of law argued that the maintenance of law and order and the protection of people and property should be one of the principles of the rule of law. Rachel Kleinfeld Belton wrote: worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/wjp-rule-law-index-2021/factors-rule-law According to the World Justice Project, there are 8 factors of the rule of law. They are: Dicey had a knack for expressing the rule of law in terms of principles whose eloquent formulations beelied their deeper difficulties. His first principle of the rule of law was: In his 1964 book The Morality of Law, Fuller articulated the principles of what he called “the internal morality of law”—principles that require laws to be general, public, forward-looking, coherent, clear, stable, and workable—and argued that these were essential to legislation. H.L.A. Hart (1965) reviewed Fuller`s book and wondered in what sense these principles could be called “morality.” They seemed to be more instrumental principles for effective legislation and, in Hart`s view, they were as moral as the enterprise they facilitated.

Mr. Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association, went further and suggested that the definition of the principle of substantive justice of the rule of law should be based on the non-segregated rights codified in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [46] These rights are human rights that a government cannot override, even in times of crisis. [47] These rights may be fundamental elements of the principle of the primacy of law relating to substantive justice. [48] John Locke, Second Treatise of Government 32 (C.B. Macpherson ed., Hackett Publ`g Co. 1980) (1690) (“[T]he aim of law is not to abolish or restrict liberty, but to preserve and extend liberty: for in all states created beings capable of laws where there is no law, there is no freedom; for freedom must be free from the coercion and violence of others; which cannot be where there is no law: but freedom is not, as we are told, a freedom for every man to do what he lists: (for who could be free if the humour of all others could reign over him?), but a freedom to dispose and order over his person, his actions, his property and all his possessions, how he enumerates them, within the framework of the laws by which he finds himself, and there not be subject to the arbitrary will of others, but freely follow his own. In addition, Goal 16 in particular is a goal for Member States to make policy changes at the national level that drive progress towards other SDGs. Building inclusive and accountable justice systems and reforming the rule of law will provide people with high-quality services and build confidence in the legitimacy of their government. This approach should address the needs of individuals and groups and their meaningful participation from the outset, paying particular attention to those who are historically marginalized and at risk of being left behind. These include preventing serious human rights violations, ensuring credible accountability for national and international officials, and empowering individuals and communities to use justice mechanisms to protect their fundamental human rights. The best known are Lon Fuller`s eight formal principles of the “inner morality of law”: (1964; see also lists in Finnis 1980: 270–1; Rawls 1999: 208-10; and Raz 1979 [1977]: 214–18) generality; Advertisements; prospectivity; Intelligibility; Consistency; Feasibility; Stability; and congruence.

These principles are formal because they concern the form of norms applied to our behavior. The rule of law comprises a set of principles of a formal and procedural nature that deal with how a community is governed. Formal principles concern the generality, clarity, publicity, stability and foresight of the norms that govern a society. The principles of procedure concern the processes by which these standards are administered and the institutions – such as the courts and an independent judiciary that requires their administration. To some extent, the rule of law also encompasses certain material ideals, such as the presumption of freedom and respect for private property rights.