Another early example of the phrase "rule of law" is found in a petition to James I of England in 1610, from the House of Commons:Īmongst many other points of happiness and freedom which your majesty's subjects of this kingdom have enjoyed under your royal progenitors, kings and queens of this realm, there is none which they have accounted more dear and precious than this, to be guided and governed by the certain rule of the law which giveth both to the head and members that which of right belongeth to them, and not by any uncertain or arbitrary form of government . The first known use of this English phrase occurred around 1500. In 1481, during the reign of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Constitució de l'Observança was approved by the General Court of Catalonia, establishing the submission of royal power (included its officers) to the laws of the Principality of Catalonia. The ideas contained in the Magna Carta are widely considered to have influenced the United States Constitution. Magna Carta's influence is considered greatly diminished by the reign of Henry VI, after the Wars of the Roses. Until 1534, the Church excommunicated people for violations, but after a time the Magna Carta was simply replaced by other statutes considered binding upon the king to act according to "process of the law". The weakening of royal power it demonstrated was based more upon the instability presented by contested claims than thoughtful adherence to constitutional principles. The influence of the Magna Carta ebbs and wanes across centuries. In 1215, Archbishop Stephen Langton gathered the Barons in England and forced King John and future sovereigns and magistrates back under the rule of law, preserving ancient liberties by Magna Carta in return for exacting taxes. In righteousness you are to judge your fellow." You shall not favor the wretched and you shall not defer to the rich. This was likely inspired by Leviticus 19:15: "You shall do no iniquity in judgment. He held that the same law had to be applied to all persons, whether rich or poor, friends or enemies. Īlfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon king in the 9th century, reformed the law of his kingdom and assembled a law code (the Doom Book) which he grounded on biblical commandments. However, these arguments have been challenged and the present consensus is that upholding an abstract concept of the rule of law was not "the predominant consideration" of the Athenian legal system. Several scholars have traced the concept of the rule of law back to 4th-century BC Athens, seeing it either as the dominant value of the Athenian democracy, or as one held in conjunction with the concept of popular sovereignty. In this sense, it stands in contrast to tyranny or oligarchy, where the rulers are held above the law. The rule of law implies that every person is subject to the law, including persons who are lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and judges. Aristotle wrote: "It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens : upon the same principle, if it is advantageous to place the supreme power in some particular persons, they should be appointed to be only guardians, and the servants of the laws." However, the principle, if not the phrase itself, was recognized by ancient thinkers. "The rule of law" was further popularized in the 19th century by British jurist A. John Locke wrote that freedom in society means being subject only to laws made by a legislature that apply to everyone, with a person being otherwise free from both governmental and private restrictions upon liberty. In the following century, the Scottish theologian Samuel Rutherford employed it in arguing against the divine right of kings. Use of the phrase can be traced to 16th-century Britain. The rule of law is defined in the Encyclopedia Britannica as "the mechanism, process, institution, practice, or norm that supports the equality of all citizens before the law, secures a nonarbitrary form of government, and more generally prevents the arbitrary use of power." The term rule of law is closely related to constitutionalism as well as Rechtsstaat and refers to a political situation, not to any specific legal rule. The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders.
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