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Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy pp 1–8Cite as

Rule of Law: Theoretical Perspectives

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Introduction: Some Conceptual Issues

The term “rule of law” refers to a situation in which rulers and citizens are equally subject to the law and entitled to its protection. Many writers regard the rule of law as an ideal, and formulas such as “government subject to law” and “government bound by law” are sometimes used to describe a particularly valuable feature of that ideal. Joseph Raz observes that such formulas would be tautological, and so empty expressions of a political ideal, if we were to stipulate that no governmental action, as a matter of definition, can be against the law. Appeals to the rule of law as a genuine ideal make sense only if the definition of “governmental action” does not exclude the possibility of unlawful governmental actions (Raz 2009: 212–213). Raz argues that “[g]overnment by law and not by men is not a tautology if ‘law’ means general, open, and relatively stable law.” (Raz 2009: 213) Governmental actions would then conform to the rule of law just in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Guido Pincione

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  1. Guido Pincione
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Correspondence to Guido Pincione .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International & Comparative Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Mortimer Sellers

  2. Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, University of Salzburg, Austria, Salzburg, Austria

    Stephan Kirste

Section Editor information

  1. Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Tetsu Sakurai

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Pincione, G. (2019). Rule of Law: Theoretical Perspectives. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_135-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_135-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6730-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6730-0

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