The Importance Of The Rule Of Law

The essence of citizenship in the United States of America lies in constant tension between self-interest and public interest. This balancing act will theoretically preserve and ensure liberty for all citizens, and has a foundational base in philosophies of human nature. John Locke and James Madison were two philosophers with similar beliefs on human nature, whose philosophies helped form a basis of the economic and political systems present today in the US. John Locke and his philosophies heavily influenced James Madison, but while Locke provided logic in the role of government protecting natural rights, Madison formed the actual blueprints of a government. Locke in his treatises of civil government and Madison in the federalist papers explain their respective views of human nature and which political systems are most appropriate for governance. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote an analysis of democracy in America which outlines the importance of civic involvement. Through a comparison of Locke

In comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution, it is evident that the basis of all three documents is the idea that all human beings possess God-given fundamental rights and that government is created to protect those rights. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, is the first of the three documents penned. This is important because it defined the rights of liberty and equality of all American citizens as outlined in John Locke’s natural law thesis (Martin, page 113). In addition to providing an itemized account of the grievances colonist’s held against King George III of England, it served to justify the colonist’s quest for independence and separation from British rule. The Declaration of Independence conveyed to the crown that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Founders’ of the New World understood that their pursuit of liberties and autonomy specified in the Declaration of Independence could not come to fruition without instituting decrees. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, was written to replace the Articles of Confederation with a better defined series of stringent laws that would legally uphold the freedoms and privileges established in the Declaration of Independence. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in

President Abraham Lincoln said, “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Lincoln was talking about how the people control the government, and the people should not try to overthrow the government (since they control it). The Magna Carta blazed the trail for due process, coming out of a tyranny. John Locke brought about the ideas of natural rights, while the Mayflower Compact showed that a group of people could work together to be part of a thriving, self-government. The Magna Carta, John Locke, and the Mayflower Compact’s idea on government; which influenced the American government, by its ideas on rights and the social contract, made American society want to gain rights and make a fair, equal government, due to the British government restricting rights.

John Locke’s stance on government provided an influential role on the founding of America. His stances on government prompted a restructuring and reorganization of government. John Locke argued that people have rights such as life, liberty, and property. These rights became known as unalienable rights, which were eventually incorporated into Bill of Rights under the fifth amendment, “no person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property” (3). In reference to the ideas of the enlightenment, it paralleled ideas dealing with human rights, liberty, and powers of the government. In regards to the powers of the

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,’’or obvious to all.First among these truths is that “all men are created equal.’’Jefferson goes on to state that everyone is “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.’’This statement is based on John Locke's ideas about natural rights.”Like Locke,Jefferson goes on to state that governments are created in order to protect people's rights.Locke concludes that if a government violates those rights,the people have a right to abolish their government and create

Every country has it’s own set of laws. Whatever they may be, they should be laws that are able to keep the country together. To keep a country together, these laws must satisfy, help and most certainly protect the people of this country. The United States has been a country that faced hardships, like being under Great Britain’s rule, it was divided into colonies, and it had unjust and unfair laws. This led them to fight for their rights and change these unfair laws so that it can help establish their satisfaction and freedom. After a series of events that occurred, they eventually established three documents that would satisfy, help and protect the people of the United States of America. These documents were The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Declaration of Independence. Of course the events that occurred have made a huge impact on the ideas in these documents. The ones that stick out the most are the Enlightenment thinkers, The

The rule of law is whereby the government and all those who govern are bound by the law and everyone must follow the law. Rule of law is also known as nomocracy. Government individual officials are not entitled to make any decision which is not in accordance to the law (Paulsen, Calabresi, McConnell & Bray, 2013). All the citizens are governed by the law including those who make the laws. A. V. Dicey has highly advocated for rule of law in modern times and has popularized it. In history the idea of rule of law can be traced back to the ancient civilizations like China, Mesopotamia, and Rome among others.

¨Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.¨ - James Madison. The Constitution guards against tyranny by having federalism, separation of powers, and also checks and balances. Therefore, Federalism is the powers given to the states. And without a system like checks and balances, the powers among the states would not be divided evenly so therefore we would have tyranny. Tyranny means oppressive power. And when power is divided, there will be no tyranny. The Constitution was written by James Madison with significant help from the founding fathers, in Philadelphia, 1787.

The rule of law is treating all persons equally under the law in a society that is not run by any arbitrary power. Everyone is subject to the rules of law, including those in government and court positions; it is consistent throughout society and essential to achieving justice. An example of the rule of law being successfully applied to achieve justice in the

Which was also reflected when Jefferson says, ‘’Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it’’ (104). This means that people have the right or the responsibility a government that is tyrannical. The English Bill of Rights lays down the limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out rights of the parliament including freedom of election, freedom of speech, the requirement to regular elections to Parliament, the right to petition in the monarch without fear of retribution which reflects John Locke’s ‘’Second Treatise of Civil Government’’. John Locke argued that government legitimacy is based on the consent of the governed and on a responsibility to protect natural rights. John argues, “The great and chief end, therefore, of mens uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the preservation of their Property’’ ( 93).

The rule of law states that nobody is above the law and everyone must follow the law. The citizens as well as the government have to enforce or follow every law and the people feel safe knowing this because they know the government will not just do what it wants. This is the second most important limit behind constitution because laws need to be fair and taken into action in order for the country to have balance and order. When a country has a rule of law, everyone must follow the law even the president must follow these laws also. Therefore the law is even greater than

The fine line between obeying the law and not obeying it. Obeying the law kind of makes the world safer. When you don't obey a law and therefore caught doing the crime; you will be charged and possibly sentenced to a place where you are no longer free to do as you please. When you obey the law you get to do as you please with your life as long as you follow the laws. Laws are put into motion to create a safe environment for everyone to live in. No one should have to be worried about their lives everyday; but there are accidents everyday in which lives are lost.

The rule of law is seen as being one of the most fundamental components of the UK constitution as well as being a principle that is concerned with restricting parliamentary action. Though the rule of law is seen to be a component in the constitution; the actual meaning of the rule of law has been very problematic to interpret. This is considerably down to the fact that it means different things to different people as since the nineteenth century, academics, politicians and judges have proposed diverse definitions and explanations in regards to the rule of law and the role it upholds in the UK constitution.

Rule of law in simplest terms means law rules, that is, law is supreme. The term “Rule of law‟ is derived from the French phrase “la principle de legalite” (the principle of legality) which means a government on principle of law and not of men. Rule of Law is a viable and dynamic concept and, like many other concepts, is not capable of any exact definition. It is used in contradistinction to rule of man. Sir Edward Coke, the Chief Justice in King James I‟s reign is said to be the originator of this principle. However, concrete shape was given to it by Professor A.V. Dicey, for the first time in his book “Law of the Constitution” (1885) in the form of three principles.

The rule of law is a difficult concept to grasp and proves elusive to substantive definition. However, the following work considers the attempts of various social and legal theorists to define the concept and pertinent authorities are considered. Attitudes and emphasis as to the exact shape, form and content of the rule of law differ quite widely depending on the socio-political perspective and views of respective commentators (Slapper and Kelly, 2009, p16), although there are common themes that are almost universally adopted. The conclusions to this work endeavour to consolidate thinking on the rule of law in order to address the question posed in the title, which is at first sight a deceptively simple one.