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Rule of Law in China pp 9–11Cite as

Rule of Law in Western Civilization

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Abstract

The idea of a rule of law is based on the perceived desire of man for liberty and equality. Especially in Europe and especially before the age of enlightenment, people’s freedom were repressed and hampered by religious commandments and feudal reign. Political participation and official posts in the executive or judiciary were reserved to citizens of a certain social strata. Ordinary people had to share the fate of the poor and to accept a less ambitious life than the members of the aristocracy. There was very little upward social mobility.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These circumstance were remarkable different from the situation in imperial China. See Chap. 3.

  2. 2.

    Tamanaha in Peerenboom (2004a), 75.

  3. 3.

    Jowell (1994), 57.

  4. 4.

    The idea is traced back to ancient Greek especially to Aristotle (384–322 BC). See for an overview Tamanaha (2004b), 7–73; Barnett (2000), 85–122.

  5. 5.

    See Peerenboom in Zhao (2006), 63 with further references. Tamanaha (2007), 2.

  6. 6.

    This paper does not aim to reflect or to echo the theories and views on the rule of law. For comprehensive information to the concept see especially Tamanaha (2004b).

  7. 7.

    Tamanaha (2007), 3 et seq.

  8. 8.

    The wording to describe the rule of law versions differ. Alder (2009), 132 et seq., for instance, talks from the amplified (meaning the thinner) and the extended (meaning the thicker) version.

  9. 9.

    For example Raz (1979), 212.

  10. 10.

    See Peerenboom in Zhao (2006), 64; Tamanaha (2004b), 93 with further references to von Hayek (1979), 110 et seq., Raz (1979), 213 et seq. and Fuller (1969), Chap. 2.

  11. 11.

    Peerenboom in Zhao (2006), 64.

  12. 12.

    “Where ever law ends, tyranny begins” Locke (1689, Sect. 202 Chap. XVIII); Tamanaha (2007), 3; See for supremacy of law further Sect. 4.2.1.

  13. 13.

    “Integral part” of the rule of law, von Hayek (1993), 210; cf. Tamanaha (2007), 4.

  14. 14.

    See especially Dworkin (1978), 263 et seq. and the difficulties he acknowledges in terms of defining the content of morals rights.

  15. 15.

    See for an overview of competing thick conceptions of the rule of law in Asia, Peerenboom (2004) ed, Asian Discourses of Rule of Law.

  16. 16.

    Tamanaha in Peerenboom (2004a), 75.

  17. 17.

    No exclusive listing!

References

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  1. Technical University of Wildau, Wildau, Germany

    Katrin Blasek

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  1. Katrin Blasek
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Correspondence to Katrin Blasek .

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Blasek, K. (2015). Rule of Law in Western Civilization. In: Rule of Law in China. SpringerBriefs in Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44622-5_2

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