Blogger’s Communication:

Rule of Law and English Legal System has been published like book in PDF with Index, Bibliography, etc … . I strongly recommend reading it: both, in PDF; and, in its whole unity. You will be able to find it in the Blog’s Page: Law & Criminology (Diritto & Criminologia).

ABSTRACT

Although few changes and additions have been done, this writing reports studies made in 2005/2006.

Even though the writer believes that:

1)       a corpus of legal values should be written inside each Constitution;

2)       and Judges, Lawyers and People, have the duty to defend those values against the tendency of Power to go beyond them; …

… the study affirms that the principium of Rule of Law (and/or Supremacy of Law) does not include a corpus of legal principles (and/or values) inside itself, as somebody affirmed.

The principium of Supremacy of Law means “only”: the SUPREMACY of LAW ABOVE the POWER.

It was a Revolution, when Power believed to be above the Law. It happened, exempli gratia, in France during the Ancient Regime. Sovereigns, Nobles and whoever had some kind of Power, believed to be above the Law. They were used to act above Law. Viola P. (1994) gave an example of this. He reported an anecdote happened between the Duke of Orleans and the King of France. When the Duke of Orleans said to the King: “Majesty, but it is illegal!”, the king answered: “No, It is legal because I will”.

The principium of Supremacy of the Law had the aim to end these kinds of Legal Systems. It states that everyone is under the Law. Sovereigns, Nobles, Bureaucrats, Banks and Financial Powers, are all under the Law. In other words, they have to comply with the Law. If they do not, they are an Arbitrary Power. The latter is a Power that: either, it is not given by a Law; or, it is used without following the right procedures, which bind the exercise of that power. As Power tends to go beyond its limitations, there is Arbitrary Power also inside our modern Legal Systems. The principium of Supremacy of Law, hence, is still frequently violated. It is proved by some recent events happened inside the European Union and Institutions. For example, when the President of Euro-group decided to exclude Greece, Varoufakis told him to be illegal (as the Duke of Orleans told to the King of France during the Ancient Regime). So, Varoufakis asked for a legal advice. The lawyers and bureaucrats of the European Union answered him that the President of Euro-group could act as he/she wants. This is as the Euro-group does not exist for the Law!! Hence, they argued: the Euro-group is above the Law!!!!! In other words, the European Union answered like the King of France during the Ancient Regime. But, if the Euro-group does not exist, the Euro-group is not above the Law. Actually, all the Powers, Decisions and Acts, of the Euro-group are illegal, unlawful, illegitimate. This is told by the principium of Supremacy of Law. On the contrary, the European Union is a New Ancient Regime. Nothing more! Nothing less!

So, how is it possible that the principium of Supremacy of Law is still violated, nowadays?

This is as the principium of Supremacy of Law was reduced by Power to be a simulacre a là Bauderillard (1981).  Power makes people forget its true meaning. It was done with a very easy game. A new set of meanings were put inside Supremacy of Law. All of them were pleasant, agreeable and fashionable, principles. But, they were also void principles as much as they were pleasant. At the end, people have forgotten the real meaning of Supremacy of Law. Power started again to act above the Law a là Ancient Regime!!

Warning: the style is sometimes ironical, satirical, metaphorical. Nevertheless, contents and facts are real, rigorous, scientific and academic.

INTRODUCTION

Rule of Law’s True Meaning

The principle of Rule of Law is also called Supremacy of the Law. Rule of Law is a principle of Formal Validity. It states that Law is above the Power. In other words, it is the basic principle of any modern Legal System, after the French Ancient Regime!

The Supremacy of Law affirms that Kings (Presidents; Governments; Constitutional Bodies; Judges; Courts; Authorities; Committees; Groups; Bureaucrats; Financial Powers; Banks; etc…) are under the Law. Their actions and decisions are legitimate only, and only if: both, the Law gives them that kind of power; and, they use that power following the right procedures.

Otherwise, Power is unlawful, illicit and illegitimate.

Their commands should not be in force.

In this latter case, people are NOT bind by Power’s decisions. People have the RIGHT to resist and to fight against those illegalities, illegitimacies and unlawfulness. 

Unfortunately, Power does NOT like to be bound. As a result, the principium of Supremacy of Law was reduced to be a simulacre a là Bauderillard (1981).

First of all, Supremacy of Law was called with a “less evocative” name: Rule of Law.

Then, Rule of Law was defined with new pleasant and agreeable principles. At the question: “what is the Rule of Law?”, lawyers started to give any possible answer. So, the clear, basic and simple, principium of Supremacy of Law became a void and nebulous concept.

At the end, People and lawyers started to forget its real meaning.

Meanwhile, Power started again to act above the Law.

For instance, the writer will give some examples that happened at the University of Cambridge. They are very useful to understand what it is happening nowadays. What people learn in the Universities, people do in the World!! Although the writer decided to speak about it with a satirical and ironical style, the facts are true.

Rule of Law like Simulacre

As we told supra[1], the principle of Rule of Law is the principium of Supremacy of Law above the Power. This is its very Nature. This is its DEEP REALITY.

However, images, in the flow of the time, tend to lose their meanings. Step by step, they become void concepts that: either, mask their deep realities; or, lose any relation with them.

According to Bauderillard J. (1981), they become Simulacres. Once they are Simulacres, they are void concepts that can be filled with any arbitrary meaning, which Power[2] wants. In this way, Justice is reduced to be nothing more than “the interest of the most Powerful one” a là Trasimacus.

They are a “mobile army of metaphors” ready to prostituting itself to any pro tempore Power. As History and Social Sciences teach, the Winners and the Establishment (Lyotard, 1983) decide what it is true and false. This is as Power and Knowledge are the “two faces of the same coin” (Foucault). Changes into Power’s relations become changes into Paradigm’s beliefs. Changes into Paradigm’s beliefs become changes into Power’s relations.

Thus, we should keep in mind this basic truth, when we study any Social Sciences’ constructs. Actually, it does not matter if they are about: Law; Psychology; Economy; Finance; etc… .

Law and Sensemaking

As the principium of Supremacy of Law was reduced to be a simulacre, Power can use it like a Horse of Troy to put in and put out from the Legal System whatever it wants.

This makes Law be applied in a very discriminative way. Law will have different meanings for different people.  For the majority of people, Law will be an instrument of “slavery” in Power’s hands. For a small elitist group, Law will be always a Declaration of Rights in defense of their own liberties and interests.

English Legal History, behind what propaganda says, it is not an exception. Whereas at Bentham’s time, the common law was used to defend the privilege of aristocracy above common people; nowadays, Law is used to defends the interests of financial powers above Peoples and Nations.

Thus, the writings of Bentham should be still considered a current issue.

According to the Bentham, English tradition is committed to “save the appearance” with a lot of rites and false beliefs. Lawyers’ writings, instead of reviling those trickeries, mask them[3].

Whereas English Lawyers / Judges claim to apply simply “neutral” Law (Universal Principles; Acts of the Parliament; etc…), they make always arbitrary (discretional and political) choices. They use their power to defend the privilege of the Establishment against common people.

The American Realism clarified that Judges do NOT apply neutrally the Law. Judges create and change the Law in each case. They do (always) political choices. Also Perelman demonstrated this. He gave some good historical examples of how, the same Law got very different interpretations and applications. The latters followed the pro tempore political ideas. This is possible for different reasons. But, an army of Troy’s Horses makes it far much easier.

The allegories of the Classical Literature are still very useful for understanding the present time. A Horse of Troy does not need to be necessary physical!! It could be everything, even a theoretical concept.

Thanks to them, the Establishment can use Law (as well as: Psychology; Economics; etc…) to lead people: both, to do; and, to believe; … what they want. Weick’s studies about sensemaking and enactment are very useful for understanding these dynamics. They should not be limited for approaching the working contexts inside the Companies.

All in all

There are two wrong views. The first one, nothing can be known (Post-modernism). The second one, everything is true. Both of them reduce Truth and Justice to be whatever Power wants. They allow Power to control people with sensemaking. But, sensemaking has nothing to do with Truth and/or Justice. Sensemaking is just Power’s manifestation.

This is what it is happening inside the Social Sciences (Legal System; Psychological constructs; Finance; etc…).

As Nietzsche wrote: “This world is the will to power — and nothing besides! And you yourselves are also this will to power — and nothing besides!” (Nietzsche, Will to Power).

RULE OF LAW

Rule of Law “is an ambiguous expression” that can have different meanings for different writers (Hood Phillips O. and Jackson P., 1987).

Hence, a clarification of the concept (advised by analytical jurisprudence and philosophy) is indispensable, at the present tense.

In absence, we could just enhance entropy. Everyone will speak about different things, using same words.

At the present time, there is no agreement among lawyers about the nature of Rule of Law. Lawyers, Judges and Academics, defined Rule of Law differently. Moreover, Rule of Law presents different conceptualizations: both, among the legal Traditions and Systems; and, inside the each legal Tradition and System (such as: English Common Law; Canadian Legal System[4]; etc…).

For instance, according to American constitutionalism: “the rule of law promises predictability in social life by placing constitutional limits on the kinds of power that governments may legitimately exercise, as well as on the extent of those governmental powers” (Shapiro I., 1994). Otherwise, this cannot be true for Countries such as: Australia. Australian Constitution simply regulates the exercise of the sovereignty. It does not state any legal principle and/or value able to lead and to bind the Power. Hence, Rule of Law is a mere principle of formal validity (like Hart’s rules of recognition) for those Nations with an “amoral constitution”. Everything is valid, if the Power acted under the Law.

American conceptualization of Rule of Law has its foundation in a written constitution. This is ontologically constituted by two corpora (parts). The first corpus gathers the regulations about the exercise of sovereignty (exempli gratia, the relation among the Constitutional Bodies). The second corpus gathers a set of political and legal principles that bind the actions of Sovereignty. This latter was the hard core of the Social Contract. So, if the Sovereignty acts against those values, each Judge can refuse to apply those Acts and/or commands.

Law rules Nations only, and only if, each person (it does not matter his/her social strata) can “win” the Sovereignty each time the Sovereignty acts above the Law. But, this must happen in a substantial way. It is not enough that it exists only theoretically speaking.

Rule of Law has also another aim: to prevent any kind of despotism, also that one of the pro tempore Majority above the Minorities. But, this could happen only, and only if, Nations are ruled by constitutional principles (Schwartz B. 1955).

Allan (1993) considered this point inside English Discourse. He recognized that “… the problem lies (in) the difficulty of articulating a coherent doctrine which resists a purely formal conception of legality – according to which even brutal decrees of a dictator, if formally “valid”, meet the requirements of the rule of law – without instead propounding a complete political and social philosophy”. Allan (1993) confirmed that Rule of Law, inside English constitutionalism, looked like a secondary rule of Hart, as: “rule of law is able to distinguish between commands of a legitimate government from those of anyone else”.

Allan (1993) stated that it is “very doubtful whether it is possible to formulate a theory of rule of law of universal validity”.

On the contrary, the present writer affirms that it is possible. It is enough to exit from the Babel Tower. It is enough to go back to the original and real meaning of Rule of Law: Supremacy of Law above the Power.

Nevertheless, Allan (1993) affirmed that Rule of Law is a living part of the English Constitution. It is able: both, to bear some legal moral values and principles; and, to bind the sovereignty of the parliament. But, Allan is hugely wrong. According to English Constitutionalism, Westminster Parliament has no limit (Barendt,1998). In other words, “there is no legal limit to what the “Queen – in – Parliament” can enact in a statute” (Wilson, 1979).

This is historically well proved.

Rule of Law like Universal Principle of any Legal System

The present writer disagrees with Allan. He believes that it is possible to formulate a theory of Rule of Law of Universal Validity. It is enough to remember its original and deep meaning. Rule of Law is the principium of Supremacy of Law. This principium states the SUPREMACY of LAW ABOVE the POWER.

It was a Revolution when Power believed to be above Law. It happened, exempli gratia, in France during the Ancient Regime. Sovereigns, Nobles and whoever had some kind of Power, believed to be above Law. They were used to act above Law. Viola P. (1994) gave an example of this. He reported an anecdote happened between the Duke of Orleans and the King of France. When the Duke of Orleans said to the King: “Majesty, but it is illegal!”, the king answered: “No, It is legal because I will”.

The principium of Supremacy of the Law had the aim to end these kinds of Legal Systems. It states that everyone is under the Law. Sovereigns, Nobles, Judges, Courts, Bureaucrats, Officers, Banks and Financial Powers, are all under the Law. In other word, they have to comply with the Law. If they do not, they are an Arbitrary Power. The latter is a Power that: either, it is not given by a Law; or, it is used without following the right procedures, which bind the exercise of that power. As Power tends to go beyond its limitations, there is Arbitrary Power also inside our modern Legal Systems. The principium of Supremacy of Law, hence, is still frequently violated. It is proved by some recent events happened inside the European Union and Institutions. For example, when the President of Euro-group decided to exclude Greece, Varoufakis told him to be illegal (as the Duke of Orleans told to the King of France during the Ancient Regime). So, Varoufakis asked for a legal advice. The lawyers and bureaucrats of the European Union answered him that the President of Euro-group could act as he/she wants. This is as the Euro-group does not exist for the Law!! Hence, they argued the Euro-group is above the Law!!!!! In other words, the European Union answered like the King of France during the Ancient Regime. But, if the Euro-group does not exist, it does not mean that it is above the Law!! Actually, it means that all the Powers, Decisions and Acts, of the Euro-group are illegal, unlawful, illegitimate. This is told by the principium of Supremacy of Law. On the contrary, the European Union is a New Ancient Regime. Nothing more! Nothing less!

So, how is it possible that the principium of Supremacy of Law is still violated, nowadays?

This is as the principium of Supremacy of Law was reduced by Power to be a simulacre a là Bauderillard (1981).  Power makes people forget its true meaning. It was done with a very easy game. A new set of meanings were put inside Supremacy of Law. All of them were pleasant, agreeable and fashionable, principles. But, they were also void principles as much as they were pleasant. At the end, we have arrived to the present time. Lawyers are lost inside nebulous concepts. Power has started again to act a là Ancient Regime.

English constitutionalism is used like example for understanding how it has happened.

[1] Supra means above in Latin.

[2] Power is used a là Foucault.

[3] Exempli gratia, Bentham wrote this about Blackstone’s books (one of his “masters”).

[4] Exempli gratia, Rule of Law has received three different approaches in Canadian Constitutionalism: rule of law like impartial administration of rule; rule of law like procedural fairness; rule of law like substantive justice (Conklin W. E. 1989).