Lord Justice Bingham once described the Rule of Law as ‘the cornerstone of a democratic society.’ Although on the face of it this constitutional principle might be associated with the idea that law and order reign, the doctrine’s deeper implications concern how power is exercised in a modern constitutional régime. More specifically, a state that claims to uphold the Rule of Law is a state in which government and its administration (that is, those who claim to legitimately exercise power — including a monopoly on violence) operate according to the law. This is what distinguishes a police force from a gang, or the executive of a government from a Mafia. Although it may (quite rightly) be argued that the Rule of Law serves to mystify and sustain power relations, it also ...
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