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The rule of law - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Law binds everyone → Lord Reed - “at the heart of the concept of the rule of law is the idea that society is governed by law” → implies that:
      - Everyone is bound by the law
      - Including government, who must obey it
      - Any action taken by government must be authorised by law → gov needs lawful authority to act
      - Second and third point aka as government according to law, meaning that government acts as both a restraint to government and as the source of its authority
    - - Builds on the core meaning by setting out guiding standards for making and enforcing law. Specifies that laws must be made in a certain form and follow a fair process of creation and implementation
    - - Requires that the law should offer benefits and protection of fundamental rights and values (democracy, human rights, equality, justice)
  - - - They are content-neutral -> don't set out substantive content of laws
      - DICEY and RAZ as contributors and examples of this theory
        
        Dicey
        
        People should be punished for breach of the law proved in court after a fair trial & government power needs legal limits and shouldn't be arbitrary
        
        Raz
        
        Rule of law requires to comply with minimum standards, rules, and procedure but doesn't require right-based content
        
        ROL as a yardstick to measure a legal system so that it gives people effective guidance
        
        Acknowledged the possibility of immoral laws passed in a valid form, and government that obeys them acting in accordance with the law
      - Focus on form and procedure for making and applying law
    - - Origins: natural law
      - LORD BINGHAM 8 principles of the rule of law
        
        Law must be accessible, intelligible, clear and predictable
        
        Legal questions should be resolved by applying the law, not discretion
        
        Law should apply equally to all, except where objective differences justify different treatment
        
        Ministers and public officers must exercise powers in good faith, fairly, for the purpose for which they were given, without exceeding the limits of their powers, and not unreasonably
        
        Law must adequately protect fundamental human rights
        
        Means must be provided for resolving civil disputes without prohibitive cost or inordinate delay
        
        The state should provide fair adjudicative procedures - right to fair trial, both criminal and civil
        
        The state should comply with its international law obligations
      - Right-based conveying the idea that good law should also protect rights and values