Relocating the Rule of Law

In this set of interdisciplinary essays leading scholars discuss the future of the Rule of Law, a concept whose meaning and import has become ever more topical and elusive. Historically the term denoted the idea of 'government limited by law'. It has also come to be equated, more broadly, with certain goods suggested by the idea of legality as such, including the preservation of human dignity and other individual and social benefits predicated upon or conducive to a rule-based social order. But in both its narrow and broader senses the Rule of Law remains a much contested concept. These essays seek to capture the main areas and levels of controversy by 'relocating' the Rule of Law not just at the philosophical level, but also in its main contemporary arenas of application - both national, and increasingly, supranational and international.

Auteur

Gianluigi Palombella is Professor of Philosophy of Law and Sociology of Law at the University of Parma and was 'Fernand Braudel' Senior Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence during 2006-7.
Neil Walker is Regius Professor of Public Law at the University of Edinburgh, and was Professor of European Law at the European University Institute between 2000 and 2008

Contenu

Part 1: The Rule of Law: An Elusive Concept?
1 A Concise Guide to the Rule of Law
Brian Z Tamanaha
2 The Rule of Law and its Core
Gianluigi Palombella

Part 2: The State of the Rule of Law State
3 The Rule of Law: Legality, Teleology, Sociology
Martin Krygier
4 The Rule of Law in Post-Communist Constitutional Jurisprudence: Concerned Notes on a Fancy Decoration
Renata Uitz
5 Law's Golden Rule
David Beatty

Part 3: The Wider Frontiers of the Rule of Law: European and Global Perspectives
6 The Rule of Law and the EU: Necessity's Mixed Virtue
Neil Walker
7 Can a Post-colonial Power Export the Rule of Law?
Elements of a General Framework
Rachel Kleinfeld and Kalypso Nicola'idis
8 Has the 'Rule of Law' become a 'Rule of Lawyers'?
An Inquiry into the Use and Abuse of an Ancient Topos in Contemporary Debates
Friedrich Kratochwil
9 The Rule of Law in International Law Today
Stephane Beaulac