rule of law

rule of law

English

Noun

rule of law (uncountable)

1. (law) The doctrine that no individual is above the law and that everyone must answer to it.
2. (law) The maxim whereby governmental decisions are made by applying known legal principles.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rule,‎ law.
   • Section 2(1), Electronic Transactions Act 2010 (Singapore)

     In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— […] “rule of law” includes written law; […]

   • Section 32(2)(b), Legislation Act 2019 (New Zealand)

     The repeal of legislation does not revive […] a rule of law that has been abolished.

Translations

the doctrine that no individual is above the law

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: qanunun aliliyi Belarusian: вяршэнства закону (vjaršenstva zakónu), вяршэнства права (vjaršenstva prava) Chinese: Mandarin: 法治 (zh) (fǎzhì) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: laillisuusperiaate (fi) Georgian: კანონის უზენაესობა (ḳanonis uzenaesoba), სამართლის უზენაესობა (samartlis uzenaesoba), სამართლისა და კანონის უზენაესობის პრინციპი (samartlisa da ḳanonis uzenaesobis ṗrinciṗi) German: Rechtstaatlichkeit f, Rechtsstaat (de) m (constitutional state) Greek: please add this translation if you can Hebrew: שלטון החוק‎ m (shiltón hakhók) Hungarian: joguralom Icelandic: please add this translation if you can Indonesian: supremasi hukum Japanese: 法の支配 (ja) (ほうのしはい, hō no shihai) Kazakh: заң билігі (zañ bilıgı) Khmer: នីតិរដ្ឋ (ni teh roth) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Polish: praworządność (pl) f Romanian: stat de drept n Russian: верхове́нство пра́ва n (verxovénstvo práva), верхове́нство зако́на n (verxovénstvo zakóna), но́рма пра́ва (ru) f (nórma práva) Slovak: please add this translation if you can Spanish: imperio de la ley m, Estado de derecho m Swedish: rättsstat (sv) c Thai: นิติธรรม (th) (ní-dtì-tam) Turkish: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: верхове́нство пра́ва (uk) n (verxovénstvo práva) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

the maxim whereby governmental decisions are made by applying known legal principles

Hungarian: jogállam (hu), jogállamiság (hu)

See also

• law and order