Rule of Law v. Legal State: Where Have We Come from, Where Are We Going To?

Nedzel, Nadia E.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05585-5_18

Nadia E. Nedzel⁶

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 38))

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Abstract

This article compares the civilian legal state to common law rule of law with regard to economic development and individual liberty. It focuses on the differences in both concept and culture in an effort to tease out what it is about ‘Englishness’ that has traditionally provided greater stability, greater protection for liberty, and incentives for economic development.

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Notes

1.
“The Principle of the Rule of Law,” Resolution 1594, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (2007), at http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/adoptedtext/ta07/eres1594.htm [PROPER CITATION PLEASE]: 3. Despite a general commitment to this principle [the rule of law], the variability in terminology and understanding of the term, both within the Council of Europe and in its member states, has elicited confusion. In particular, the French expression Etat de droit (being perhaps the translation of the term Rechtsstaat known in the German legal tradition and in many others) has often been used but does not always reflect the English language notion of “rule of law” as adequately as the expression prééminence du droit, which is reflected in the French version of the Statute of the Council of Europe, in the preamble to the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5) and in the Strasbourg Court’s case law.
2.
Ricardo Gosalbo-Bono, “The Significance of the Rule of Law and its Implications for the European Union and the United States,” 72 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 229, 360 (2010). Compare the definition and description of the Rule of Law provided by the World Justice Project at http://worldjusticeproject.org/factors/limited-government-powers, which incorporates elements of both rule of law and legal state (including equal application of the law, limited government, protection for fundamental rights, and checks and balances), with the Resolution of the Council of the International Bar Association of October 8, 2009, on the Commentary on Rule of Law Resolution (2005) at www.ibanet.org (emphasizing independent judiciary, presumption of innocence, right to a speedy trial, equal application of the law). But see the definition in (S/2004/616) Report of the Secretary-General on the Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies at http://www.un.org/en/ruleoflaw/index.shtml. The U.N. Secretary General’s definition is more consistent with the legal state, as it emphasizes equal application of the law but not limited government.
3.
See David Dyzenhaus, “Book Review, The End of the Road to Serfdom”, 63 U. Toronto L. Rev. 317–318 (2013).
4.
Lon L. Fuller The Morality of Law (Revised ed, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1969) 33–38. Fuller stated the principles negatively, in a parable involving fictional King Rex trying to create a legal system. Stated positively, those eight principles include: 1. Generality, 2. Notice or publicity, 3. Prospectivity, 4. Clarity, 5. Consistency, 6. Conformability, 7. Stability, 8. Congruency. Margaret Jane Radin, “Reconsidering the Rule of Law”, 69 U. Boston L. Rev. 781, 785 (1989).
5.
Klaus Stern, 1 Das Staatsrecht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland [The State Law of Germany] 781 (2nd ed. Munich: CH Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1984) (cited and translated by Francois Venter, ‘South Africa: A Diceyan Rechtsstaat?,’ 57:4 MdGill L. J. 721, 726 (2012): A constitutional state: a constitution is the foundational juridical order and supreme legal norm of the state. Stern’s list includes 1. Human dignity, liberty, and equality; 2, control of government authority; 3, Legality; 4. Judicial Protection; 5. Reparation, 6. Protection against excessive use of authority.
6.
See generally F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom: Texts and Documents, The Definitive Edition (ed. Bruce Caldwell, 2007, originally 1944). U. Chicago Press.
7.
2013 Economic Freedom of the World Heat Map, Heritage Fund, available at http://www.heritage.org/index/heatmap (last visited on July1, 2013), with the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International and available at http://www.transparency.org/cpi2011/results. See also Nadia E. Nedzel, “The Rule of Law: Its History and Meaning in Common Law, Civil Law, and Latin American Judicial Systems,” 10 Richmond J. Global L. & Bus. (2010) 57, 60 (showing composite maps with 2010 data and sources cited therein).
8.
World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2012–2013 Report, available at: http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index-data
9.
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 163 (1803).
10.
U.S. Declaration of Independence.
11.
Albert Venn Dicey, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution IV (1915).
12.
Id.
13.
See Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct (1975) at 118–119, 149. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Michael Oakeshott, Masses in Representative Democracy (1962) in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Liberty Fund 1991).
14.
Id.
15.
See F.A. Hayek, “Lecture IV: The Decline of the Rule of Law” in The Political Idea of the Rule of Law (National Bank of Egypt, Cairo 1955) at 46–48.
16.
See Brian Z. Tamanaha, How an Instrumental View of Law Corrodes the Rule of Law, 56 DePaul L. Rev. (2007) 469, 504; A.V. Dicey, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885) (“The ancient veneration for the rule of law has in England suffered during the last thirty years a marked decline.”); F.A. Hayek, “Lecture 1: Freedom and the Rule of Law” A Historical Survey in The Political Ideal of the Rule of Law (1955) at 3 National Bank of Egypt, Cairo (“[This revolution has gradually whittled away most of the guarantees of individual liberty]”).
17.
Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3 (2010) at 229, 235.
18.
Digest 1.4.1 and Digest 1.3.1, cited in Stein, Roman Law in European History (1999) at 59.
19.
See e.g. Robert Ellickson, Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes (1991). Harvard U. Press; John Maxcy Zane, The Story of Law (1998) at 343. Liberty Fund.
20.
Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions: French Lightening, American Light (1999) at 60. Faber & Faber.
21.
Id. at 11–12.
22.
Id. at 153.
23.
“Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy; such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man’s life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.” John Adams, An Essay on Man’s Lust for Power (1763).
24.
Martin Loughlin, “The Rule of Law in European Jurisprudence,” European Commission for Democracy Through Law Study 512/2009, CDL-JD (2009) (Strasbourg, 29 May 2009) at 7.
25.
See Marie-Joëlle Redor, De l’Etat Legal à l’Etat de droit: L’evolution des conceptions de la doctrine publiciste française (Presses universitaires d’Aix-Marseille 1992) at 52–59; Guillaume Bacot, Carré de Malberg et L’Origine de la Distinction entre Souveraineté du Peuple et Souveraineté Nationale (1985). Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique.
26.
Charles de Gaulle addressed this issue in the Constitution of the Fifth Republic by expanding the power of the presidency: under the pre-existing Fourth Republic, it required an Act of the National Assembly to move a horse trough in Paris. See Bernard Chantebout, The French Constitution: Its Origin and Development in the Fifth Republic. Translation by David Gruning (1998). Louisiana State U. Press (trans. David Gruning).
27.
Raymond Carré de Malberg, Contribution à la Théorie générale de l’Etat (2004), vol.1, 228–243. University of Michigan Library.
28.
Raymond Carre de Malberg, Contribution à la Théorie générale de l’Etat (1920–22) at 493–500. University of Michigan Library.
29.
Stern v. Marshall, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011).
30.
Raymond Carré de Malberg, Contribution à la Théorie générale de l’Etat (2004), vol.1, 228–243. University of Michigan Library.
31.
See Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3, at 247–249 (explaining delay in development of French l’état de droit).
32.
History of Political Philosophy, Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey eds. (1987) at 581–582,603; Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3.
33.
Martin Loughlin, Foundations of Public Law (Press 2012) at 319. Oxford University Press.
34.
Johan Wilhelm Placidus, Litteratur der Staatslehre, Ein Versuch (1798); Robert von Mohl, Die Polizeiwissenschaft nach den Grunds tzen der Rechtstaates (1844).
35.
Loughlin, supra note 38 at 319.
36.
Id.
37.
Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3, at 242.
38.
Loughlin, supra note 38 at 320.
39.
Id.
40.
C. Schmitt, “Nationalsozialismus und Rechtstaat,” in Juristische Wochenschrift 716 (1934) at 716.
41.
H. Kelsen, Hauptproleme der Staatsrechtslehre (1984). Aalen: Scientia-Verlag; H. Kelsen, “Staat und Recht,” Soziologische Hefte (1922) at 18–27; H. Kelsen, Rechtsstaat und Staatsrecht (1913) at 36.
42.
The official English translation uses the term rule of law, accessed on June 19, 2013 at http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html. However, the German version uses the term Rechtsstaat: “(1) Die verfassungsmäßige Ordnung in den Ländern muß den Grundsätzen des republikanischen, demokratischen und sozialen Rechtsstaates im Sinne dieses Grundgesetzes entsprechen” (emphasis added).
43.
Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3, at 244–245.
44.
Loughlin, supra note 38 at 321.
45.
Woodfin L. Butte, “Doctrine and Jurisprudence in Mexico,” in The Role of Judicial Decisions and Doctrine in Civil Law and in Mixed Jurisdictions, Joseph Dainow ed. (1974) at 311, 315. Louisiana State U. Press.
46.
Martin Loughlin, “The Rule of Law in European Jurisprudence, European Commission for Democracy through Law”, Venice Commission, CDL-AD (2011).
47.
Dicey commented that the U.S. had “shown unrivalled skill in providing means for giving legal security to the rights declared by American Constitutions.” The rule of law is as marked a feature of the United States as of England. Dicey, supra note 14 at 119.
48.
Constitution of 3 September 1791; Constitution of 24 June 1793; Constitution of 26 August 1795; Constitution of 13 December 1799; and Constitution of 18 May 1804.
49.
See generally the Anti-Federalist Papers.
50.
James Madison, Federalist Papers #51.
51.
James Madison, Federalist Papers #10.
52.
James Madison, Federalist Papers #10.
53.
See J.W. Tubbs, The Common Law Mind: Medieval & Early Modern Conceptions (2002) at 173. Johns Hopkins U. Press.
54.
See Hayek, Law, Legislation & Liberty (1983) at 115–122. U. Chicago Press.
55.
The value of maintaining consistency in jurisprudence has been recognized in international law, see e.g. the U.S. Convention on the International Sale of Goods, art. 7(1) “(1) In the interpretation of this Convention, regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith in international trade,” which has led to a database of international decisions, available on line at www.cisg.law.pace.edu. See also the WTO appellate body opinions.
56.
U.S. Constitution Amendment V.
57.
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, “Jury Instructions as Constitutional Education”, 84 U. Col. L. Rev. 233 (2013); Nancy S. Marder, “Introduction to the Jury at a Crossroad: The American Experience”, 78 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 909 (2003).
58.
Under the U.S. compound republic system, each state has its own government which is completely separate from (and not accountable to) the U.S. Federal Government.
59.
See Gosalbo-Bono, supra note 3, at 245.
60.
5 U.S. 137 (1803).
61.
See James Étienne Viator, “Marbury & History: What Do We Really Know About What Really Happened?”, 37 Revue Juridique Themis (2003) 329, 335–43; see also William Michael Trennor, “Judicial Review before Marbury,” 58 Stanford L. Rev. (2005)455.
62.
Viator, supra note 71, at 338.
63.
Id. at 338–339.
64.
John F. Preis, “Constitutional Enforcement by Proxy,” 995 Virginia L. Rev. (2009)1663, 1693.
65.
Marbury, 5 U.S. (Cranch 1) 137.
66.
See David E. Marion, “Judicial Faithfulness or Wandering Indulgence? Original Intentions and the History of Marbury v. Madison”, 57 Ala. L. Rev. (2006) 1041 (discussing the interpretation Marbury).
67.
William C. Prillaman, The Judiciary and Democratic Decay in Latin America: Declining Confidence in the Rule of Law (2000). Praeger Publishers.
68.
Carlos Rodrigo de la Barra Cousino, “Adversarial vs. Inquisitorial Systems: The Rule of Law and Prospects for Criminal Procedure Reform in Chile”, 5 Sw. J. L. & Trade Am. (1998)323, 325.
69.
E-mail from Alejandro Silva, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law, Universidad de los Andes, to Nadia E. Nedzel (Jan. 2010) (on file with author).
70.
De la Barra Cousino, supra note 77, at 325.
71.
Id. at 327.
72.
Cousino, supra note 77 at 328, 356; Rafael Blanco et al., “Reform to the Criminal Justice System in Chile: Evaluation and Challenges”, 2 Loy. U. Chi. Int’l L. Rev. (2005) 253, 255–259.
73.
Blanco, supra note 79, at 256.
74.
Blanco, supra note 79, at 262.
75.
James M. Cooper, “Proyecto Acceso: Using Popular Culture to Build the Rule of Law in Latin America”, 5 Rutgers J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 378, 383 (2008); Bianco supra note 79, at 259.
76.
Blanco, supra note 81 at 259.
77.
Id. at 260.
78.
Cooper, supra note. 130 at 383–384.
79.
Blanco, supra note 81 at 263.
80.
Id.
81.
Id. at 263–64.
82.
Id.
83.
See Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper #12 (1787).
84.
See Sir George Clark, The Seventeenth Century (2nd ed., 1961) at 24. Oxford U. Press.
85.
The rallying cry of the Boston Tea Party was ‘no taxation without representation’: Boston Tea Party members were objecting not only to the tax itself, but also to the fact that it was passed without their being represented in Parliament. The current U.S. ‘Tea Party’ conservative/libertarian movement was originally founded in 2009 by a group opposing increased federal spending and increased federal taxes.
86.
Forrest MacDonald, “The Founding Fathers and the Economic Order,” Speech before the Economic Club of Indianapolis (2006).
87.
Id.
88.
Roy C. Smith, Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise: How the Founding Fathers Turned to A great Economist’s Writings and Created the American Economy (2002) at 21. St. Martin’s Griffin.
89.
Id. at 147.
90.
Id.
91.
Id. at 118–124.
92.
Id.; see also MacDonald, supra n. 91.
93.
Id. at 124.
94.
Forrest MacDonald, The Founding Fathers and the Economic Order, Speech before the Economic Club of Indianapolis (April 19, 2006).
95.
Smith, supra note 96 at 149.
96.
See e.g. The Men who Built America series, The History Channel, available at http://www.history.com
97.
F.A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” in XXXV #4 American Economic Review (1945) at 519–30, available at http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html; Hayek on Socialism, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNbYdbf3EEc; F. A. Hayek, “The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism in 1 The Collected Works of Friedrick August Hayek” pp 84–88 (1988) at 84–88, available at http://www.libertarianismo.org/livros/fahtfc.pdf
98.
F.A. Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents, the Definitive Edition”, U. Chicago Press (2007) at 122–23.
99.
Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (2000). Basic Books.
100.
Id. at 32.
101.
“The Destruction of Economic Facts”, by Hernando de Soto. April 28, 2011. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, available at: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_19/b4227060634112.html
102.
FAQ: “What is Economic Freedom,” at http://www.heritage.org/index/about (accessed on July 2, 2013).
103.
Garrett Barden & Tim Murphy, Law and Justice in Community 253–264 (2010 Oxford U. Press) at 253–264.
104.
See generally Hernando de Soto: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (2000). Basic Books.
105.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, quoted in Samuel P. Huntington, “Foreword, Cultures Count,” Culture Matters at xiv.
106.
Nicholas Capaldi, “Philosophical Amnesia,” in Conceptions of Philosophy (2009), vol. 65 at 93, 102–03 & note 32. Cambridge U. Press.
107.
James Madison, Virginia Ratifying Convention (June 20, 1788) Papers 11:163, available at http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s36.html
108.
See The Federalist Papers No. 55, at 346 (James Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961); Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969) at 426–29. U. North Carolina Press.
109.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.
110.
Max Weber, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” as discussed in David Landes, “Culture Makes Almost All the Difference”, Culture Matters 11. (2010). Oxford U. Press (trans. Kalberg).
111.
MacDonald, supra note 104.
112.
Id.
113.
Civil war: approximately 625,000 killed; World War I: approximately 116,000; World War II: approximately 470,000.
114.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism 19–20 (1930). Charles Scribner (trans. Parsons).
115.
Id.
116.
Id. at 33.
117.
Walmart Launches New Advertising Campaign ‘The Real Walmart’, available at: http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/05/04/walmart-launches-national-advertising-campaign-to-show-the-real-walmart; New Ad Campaign Promotes ‘The Real Walmart,’ Forbes (5/06/2013), available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2013/05/06/new-ad-campaign-promotes-the-real-walmart/
118.
Michael Bergdahl, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton Success Secrets for Remarkable Success (2006). Wiley.
119.
John Anderson, “The Frugal Lifestyle of the King of Thrift,” Chicago Tribune (Dec. 17, 1990) book review of Vance H. Trimble, Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America’s Richest Man. Available at: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-12-17/features/9004140388_1_sam-waltonwal-mart-discount-stores-vance-h-trimble
120.
See e.g. the maxim commonly quoted in the U.S.: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Sir John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, Essays on Freedom & Power 364 (Beacon Press 1949) (quotation by prominent nineteenth century British Catholic referring to the powers of popes and kings.)
121.
See generally Garry Wills: A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government, Introduction (Simon & Schuster 2008) (discussing the pervasive and historical distrust of government in the U.S.)
122.
Id. at 12.
123.
Lipset & Menz, Corruption, Culture, and Markets 116, in Culture Matters. See also Jeffrey Sachs, A Cultural Typology of Economic Development 47–53 in Culture Matters.
124.
Art. 1, Constitution of the Russian Federation, trans. author.
125.
Peter Barenboim, Natalya Merkulova. “The 25th Anniversary of Constitutional Economics: The Russian Model and Legal Reform in Russia,” The World Rule of Law Movement and Russian Legal Reform, (Francis Neate and Holly Nielsen eds.; Justitsinform, Moscow (2007) at 174. Moscow City Chamber of Advocates.
126.
Id. at 181.
127.
Anna Zakatnova, “Fronde In Judges Robes and Without,” Rossiskaya Gazeta (July 9, 2007), Reproduced in The World Rule of Law Movement and Russian Legal Reform, at 243–244.
128.
Ellen Carnaghan, Thinking About Democracy: Interviews With Russian Citizens, Studies in Pub. Pol’y 322 (1999); cited and quoted in Kathryn Hendley, “Assessing The Rule of Law in Russia,” 14 Cardozo J. Int’l & Comp. L. 347, 377 (2006).
129.
Michael Oakeshott, “The Rule of Law”, in On History and Other Essays (Oxford 1983) (new: Liberty Fund 1999) 178.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the Southern University Law Center for the 2013 summer research stipend that made this project possible, and I would like to thank James Silkenat for inviting me to participate in this Symposium.

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Reilly Family Professor of Law, Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, USA
Nadia E. Nedzel

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Sullivan & Worcester LLP, New York, New York, USA
James R. Silkenat
Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA
James E. Hickey Jr.
Asnis and partners, Moscow, Russia
Peter D. Barenboim

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Nedzel, N.E. (2014). Rule of Law v. Legal State: Where Have We Come from, Where Are We Going To?. In: Silkenat, J., Hickey Jr., J., Barenboim, P. (eds) The Legal Doctrines of the Rule of Law and the Legal State (Rechtsstaat). Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05585-5_18

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