The Rule of Law
All members of a society (including those in government) are equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes: the rule of law.
Anyone following current affairs will see how the rule of law is often stretched to its limit by autocratic leaders seeking to either evade it or bend it to their will – and while this has come to the foreground in the US and UK since 2016, it is a long-running theme in many parts of the world. However the rule of law is not only about holding the powerful to account, it’s also about a fundamental feature of life under a functioning government – personal safety.
In this episode we delve into how it has emerged as a principle that requires clear articulation, what difference it makes and where we see versions of it in action.
Talking points:
- the rule of law replaces the rule of violence
- is an agreement as to how to live
- autocracies emerge where constitutions are inadequate
- need for independence in judiciary
- tension with business – eg with data
- international aspect a necessary element
- re. the biosphere
- Ireland, 13th C Wales, South Africa
- adversarial vs inquisitorial justice
- truth as therapeutic
- law as empowering
- law and norms
Great Wikipedia article on the subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law
Stanford SU discussion on rule of law in Hayek:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rule-of-law/#Haye
The late Lord Bingham, who posthumously won the Orwell Prize for literature with his book The Rule of Law, speaks at the RSA in 2010:
No busted pluggers – Aussies make it easy to follow:
French TV series, Spiral, on BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072wk9
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