Rule of Law
The rule of law refers to the principle that law-making processes should be transparent, laws should be enforced fairly, courts and tribunals should be independent, and the administration of law and its substantive content should be consistent with international human rights standards. [1]
Definitions of Rule of Law
WHO Definition [1]
The rule of law refers to the principle that law-making processes should be transparent, laws should be enforced fairly, courts and tribunals should be independent, and the administration of law and its substantive content should be consistent with international human rights standards.
The rule of law is a fundamental concept within the United Nations system. It requires that “laws must be publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated and [must be] consistent with international human rights norms and standards”.4Under the rule of law, “all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to just, fair and equitable laws and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”.5The United Nations General Assembly has acknowledged that advancing the rule of law at national and international levels is “essential for sustained and inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and hunger and the full realization of all human rights and freedoms, including the right to development”. [2]
Note: The approach to public health law reform taken in this report rests on two fundamental human rights concepts: the rule of law, and the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (hereafter the right to health).
Brookings [3]
“Rule by law” means that the party is above the law, while “rule of law” means that the party should be held accountable under the constitution.
Cato Institute [4]
"...rule of law, a system of well‐defined and legally secure property..."
Additional Notes on Rule of Law
Center for American Progress [5]
As the term is popularly used, “rule of law” refers to a sense that the nation is governed by a set of laws that people understand, that work, that are fundamentally fair, and that people believe can and should be followed. The idea that the United States should be ruled by a “government of laws and not of men,” in John Adams’ formulation, lies at the heart of the nation’s constitutional tradition. This concept, which traces originally to Aristotle, was first popularly called the rule of law by the 19th-century English law professor A.V. Dicey. As explained by more modern legal scholars, a system that adheres to the rule of law must, at a minimum, be:
- Prospective: Punishment or other legal consequences must follow from a properly and previously enacted law; ex post facto punishments for conduct predating the law are forbidden.
- Public: Laws are created through a regular public process, and the public knows what the laws are and can conform their conduct to them; adjudication of alleged violations also are made in public, not completed before a special or partial tribunal.
- General: No one is, by virtue of wealth or political position, above the law or subject to a different law.
- Stable: Changes in law, particularly in the courts, develop over time by a system of precedent, not arbitrary departures.
Richer definitions of the rule of law additionally incorporate concepts pertaining to “fundamental rights, democracy, and/or criteria of justice or right.”
Heritage Foundation [6]
Rule of Law:
- Property Rights: The property rights component is an assessment of the ability of individuals to accumulate private property, secured by clear laws that are fully enforced by the state. It measures the degree to which a country’s laws protect private property rights and the degree to which its government enforces those laws. It also assesses the likelihood that private property will be expropriated and analyzes the independence of the judiciary, the existence of corruption within the judiciary, and the ability of individuals and businesses to enforce contracts.
- Freedom from Corruption: Corruption erodes economic freedom by introducing insecurity and uncertainty into economic relationships. The score for this component is derived primarily from Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2010, which measures the level of corruption in 178 countries.
[1] World Health Organization. (2016). “Chapter 1: Public health regulation and the right to health”. In Advancing the right to health: the vital role of law. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/252815. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
[2] United Nations General Assembly. Declaration of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the rule of law at national and international levels. United Nations document A/Res/67/1 (30 November 2012): para.7.
[3] https://www.brookings.edu/on-the-record/chinese-politics-economy-and-rule-of-law/#cancel
[6] Heritage Foundation 2020 Index of Economic Freedom https://www.heritage.org/index/rule-of-law