rule of law
Historical background:
It can be traced through history to many ancient civilizations, such as ancient Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia
In fifth century BC, Athens was a democracy, governed directly by its citizens. Every male citizen over thirty years of age, of whatever class or wealth, was eligible to serve (for pay) on juries that decided legal cases. To insure accountability, magistrates presiding over cases could be charged with violations of the law by complaints from private citizens. Equality before the law was an important value in their system. Then philosopher Aristotle wrote “Now, absolute monarchy, or the arbitrary rule of a sovereign over all citizens, in a city which consists of equals, is thought by some to be quite contrary to nature;....That is why it is thought to be just that among equals everyone be ruled as well as rule, and therefore that all should have their turn. And the rule of law, it is argued, is preferable to that of any individual. On the same principle, even if it be better for certain individuals to govern, they should be made only guardians and ministers of the law . . . Therefore he who bids the law rule may be deemed to bid God and Reason alone rule, but he who bids man rule adds an element of the beast; for desire is a wild beast, and passion perverts the minds of rulers, even when they are the best of men. The law is reason unaffected by desire.”
In first century BC, in Rome, Cicero, a contemporary of Julius Caesar wrote during the dying stage of the Roman Republic, as it was giving way to autocratic rule. “Everyone of standing had realized that the republic’s rule of law and order had given place to the rule of the stronger”.
During Medieval era, Magna Carta also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, was issued in the year 1215. It was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and
It can be traced through history to many ancient civilizations, such as ancient Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia
In fifth century BC, Athens was a democracy, governed directly by its citizens. Every male citizen over thirty years of age, of whatever class or wealth, was eligible to serve (for pay) on juries that decided legal cases. To insure accountability, magistrates presiding over cases could be charged with violations of the law by complaints from private citizens. Equality before the law was an important value in their system. Then philosopher Aristotle wrote “Now, absolute monarchy, or the arbitrary rule of a sovereign over all citizens, in a city which consists of equals, is thought by some to be quite contrary to nature;....That is why it is thought to be just that among equals everyone be ruled as well as rule, and therefore that all should have their turn. And the rule of law, it is argued, is preferable to that of any individual. On the same principle, even if it be better for certain individuals to govern, they should be made only guardians and ministers of the law . . . Therefore he who bids the law rule may be deemed to bid God and Reason alone rule, but he who bids man rule adds an element of the beast; for desire is a wild beast, and passion perverts the minds of rulers, even when they are the best of men. The law is reason unaffected by desire.”
In first century BC, in Rome, Cicero, a contemporary of Julius Caesar wrote during the dying stage of the Roman Republic, as it was giving way to autocratic rule. “Everyone of standing had realized that the republic’s rule of law and order had given place to the rule of the stronger”.
During Medieval era, Magna Carta also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, was issued in the year 1215. It was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and