What Is the Rule of Law? Political, Traditional, Rhetorical

Abstract

This chapter addresses two questions. What kind of thing is ‘the rule of law’, and what methods should we employ in trying to understand its nature? Those questions are answered as follows: the rule of law is always a political doctrine and, also, in large part, traditional and rhetorical. The chapter considers some of the implications of those answers for the study of the rule of law. It is contended that, as the rule of law is political, traditional, and rhetorical, our methods should be contextualizing and critical.