The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #755

by Aziz Z. Huq

Politicians, judges, and citizens commonly use the phrase "rule of law" to describe some good that flows from a legal system. But what precisely is that good? Even in Aristotle's time, there was no agreement on either its nature, and on whether it counted as an unqualified good. Even now, a core rule-of-law aspiration is that law can constrain how power is flexed. But how or when? Disagreement persists as to whether the rule of law is a matter of how law is used or why it is deployed. In consequence, the World Bank, the leaders of Singapore's one-party state, and the Communist Party in China can all offer their own spins on the concept.

By charting these disagreements and showing the overlap and the conflicts between different understandings of the concept, Aziz Z. Huq shows how the rule of law can still be used as an important tool for framing and evaluating the goals and functions of a legal system. He traces the idea's historical origins from ancient Greece to the constitutional theorist Albert Venn Dicey to the economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek. And he explores how that value is coming under pressure from terrorist threats, macroeconomic crisis, pandemics, autocratic populism, and climate change.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction

152 pages, Paperback

Published September 4, 2024

About the author

Aziz Huq is an Assistant Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at The University of Chicago Law School.

Aziz Huq earned his BA summa cum laude in International Studies and French from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996 and his law degree from Columbia Law School in 2001, where he was awarded the John Ordronaux Prize. He clerked for Judge Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2001–02) and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States (2003–04). After clerking he worked as Associate Counsel and then Director of the Liberty and National Security Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He has also been a Senior Consultant Analyst for the International Crisis Group.

His research and teaching interests include constitutional law, national security and counterterrorism, federal jurisdiction, legislation, human rights, and comparative constitutional law.

Reviews

[winkler · Rating 4 out of 5]

forgot to upload this one 🫡

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The American legal scholar Aziz Z. Huq published The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction in 2024. The book has a section on references and an index. The book has a section entitled “further reading” (Huq 123-124). Huq writes, “This short book isolates and examines the genealogy of English-language debate around the phrase ““the rule of law”” (Huq 1). The book also covers the spread of the concept of the rule of law outside of the English-speaking world. The book looks at the use of the concept of “the rule of law” in the region of East Asia (Huq 3-4; 78-85). Huq writes the concept of “the rule of law” is hard to define because people use the concept differently in a different legal and political context (Huq 9-10). The political scientist Leslie Holmes gives an introduction to the concept of “the rule of law” in his introduction to corruption based on World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index (RLI) (Holmes 81). The RLI is analyzed in Haq’s book about the RLI coverage of Singapore (Huq 78-82). The book looks at the concept of “the rule of law” from different angles (Huq 1). The book examines the history of “the rule of law” (Huq 12-39). Huq looks at “the rule of rule” differently (Huq 40-59). The book covers different theories on how to build a legal system that supports the concept of “the rule of law” (Huq 60-72). Chapter 6 is on how the concept of "the rule of law" spread outside of the “Anglo-American” legal system (Huq 73). The last book covers theoretical political criticism of the concept of “the rule of law” (Huq 87-108). The epilogue about the relationship between technology and the concept of “the rule of law” in the future (Huq 109-111). Huq’s book is a thoughtful introduction to “the rule of law” (Huq 1).
Works Cited:
Holmes, Leslie. 2015. Corruption: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. Kindle.

[Behrooz Parhami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the unabridged 4-hour audio version of this title (read by Bill Andrew Quinn, Tantor Media, 2025).

This is yet another wonderful entry in the long list of titles of Oxford University Press’s “Very Short Introduction” series, a collection of brief books that has allowed me to learn entirely new subjects and to brush up on topics that I learned a long time ago.

Dictatorships, oligarchies, and democracies all pay lip service to the rule of law, but few actually do what they preach. Huq presents a concise history of the concept and term, while describing its various forms, adoptions, benefits, and criticisms in the following seven chapters. An epilogue concludes the book.

- Why does the rule of law matter? (Definitions, basic concepts, importance)

- Seeding the rule of law (Aristotle, Locke, Montesquieu, Magna Carta)

- The rule of law’s green shoots (England’s pride, Dicey’s lessons and legacy)

- Three branches of the modern rule of law (Advancing justice, promoting efficiency)

- Why does the rule of law survive? (Institutional foundations, class conflict, legitimacy)

- Cultivating the rule of law in new lands (World Bank, Singapore, China)

- The rule of law condemned: Critics and crises (Pashkanis, Schmitt, inequalities, populism)

Today, it is more important than ever for everyone to understand the various, sometimes conflicting, meanings of “the rule of law.” In many dictatorships, and in Trump-era United States, the rule of law is used to justify arbitrary detentions, enabling mobs to attack, physically or virtually, political opponents, rewarding obedience, and punishing dissent.

[Salman Ahsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent tour de force of the political and philosophical history of the concept of the rule of law and its various manifestations and interpretations from Aristotle all the way to the present era.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For school