The Rule of Law and Rule-Bound Orders

Abstract

Theories of absolute government are formally authoritarian in the sense that they identify a single source of authority and order within the state. While these theories do not necessarily mean that an absolute sovereign will be harsh and oppressive, they imply that sovereign power can only ever be subjected to a system of self-regulation. This feature of absolute government is very apparent in Bodin’s and Hobbes’ insistence that legal regulations that appear to be independent of the sovereign owe their binding force to the fact that they have been recognised and upheld by the sovereign. As the source of law, the sovereign can only be subjected to the directive force of law, and is bound by it only to the extent that he chooses. Sovereigns exercise supreme power, and they alone are responsible for stipulating the legal framework through which they do so. These requirements are not accidental. As we have seen, theories of absolute government developed in an environment where contending sources of authority seemed to be undermining social order. The logical and practical imperative for an absolute conception of sovereignty was presented as a solution to this problem.