“No man in this country is so high that he is above the law,”

United States v. Lee, I 06 U.S. 196,220 (1882).

The Importance of Law

 Rule of law is a system of laws under which the people and the government are bound, which allows predictability and restraint of government action.

A rule of law legitimizes the law. It establishes clear rules of behavior, establishes (or captures) precedent, and seriously undermines any defense of ignorance of the law. Moreover, it holds people to the same standards, though in many ancient rules of law, the standards differed depending on the person’s classification. For instance, men often had different rights than women. Slaves were a different legal class than those who were free, and indentured servants were often a different classification altogether. When people are held to the same standards, we can see systems of fairness (that is, equal justice under the law) emerging, at least for those within the same class.

If we did not have a rule of law system that specified and legitimized these and other foundational issues, chaos would rule. There would likely be competing claims of authority between different factions of power if our U.S. Constitution and our state constitutions did not create our systems of government. Likewise, there would be competing sources of law—such as those based on religious texts, or others created by modern human beings—if our constitutions did not legitimize the manner in which laws were to be created. Also, there would be different methods of dispute resolution.

Rule of law systems establish authority, create expectations for behavior, and establish redress for grievances and penalties for deviance. Governance of conflict and the attainment of peace among the governed are primary goals of rule of law systems. For example, securing peace is a goal within the U.S. rule of law system. The U.S. Constitution’s preamble states, “We the People…in Order to…insure domestic Tranquility.” We see this same notion in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, though the words used are somewhat different.