The rule of law in the modern sense originated in the West and can be traced back to ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks regarded respect for law and freedom as two basic political principles to realize their political ideal-the harmony ("goodness") of city-state life, and advocated that freedom means that people are only bound by law, and law has more power than people.

Pythagoras first put forward the theory that "the rule of man is inferior to the rule of law". Aristotle, a great thinker in ancient Greece, clearly stated in his masterpiece Politics that law is an indispensable condition for a moral and civilized life and a condition that leads to the "goodness" of the city-state.

on this basis, he believes that the basic element of the rule of law is that "rule of law" should contain two meanings: the established laws are generally obeyed, and the laws that everyone obeys should be well-formulated laws. He believes that the rule of law is superior to the rule of man. He said: "Any ruler who does not rule by feelings is always better than people who rule by feelings. The law has no feelings."

therefore, "whoever says that the law should rule, it is like saying that only gods and reason can rule;" As for who said that an individual should be allowed to rule, this is a factor of animal nature mixed in politics. " Aristotle's theory of rule of law has had a long and profound influence on the western tradition of rule of law.

The Roman concept of rule of law directly originated from Greek civilization. They were not good at thinking, but they were good at action. The brilliant Roman law became a towering monument of the Romans. Cicero's so-called "we are servants of the law so that we can be free" has become an immortal famous saying.

expanding information

the application of the principle

first, draw lessons from the outstanding achievements of human beings in the construction and development of the civilization ruled by law

from the perspective of genetics, the rule of law should certainly reflect the national nature, the times and the class nature, but it should also reflect the * * * intelligence of human beings in the process of pursuing progress and development. Therefore, for those countries that are post-ruled by law, how to fully absorb the countries that were ruled by law first?

second, pay attention to customary rules.

the development of modern rule of law is faced with the same environment: the state and society are increasingly confused, the boundary between public law and private law in the traditional sense is gradually blurred, and the "living law" and "inner law" corresponding to the provisions law are gradually revived. This makes it necessary for us to rethink and examine the rationality of legislators' "making laws".

Marx believes that legislators are not creating laws, not inventing laws, but merely expressing laws. He expresses the internal rules of spiritual relations in conscious existing laws. Real legal rules can only be found in specific situations, and the task of systematically creating a set of legal rules is beyond the rational ability of human beings.

Third, correctly handle the relationship between democracy and the rule of law.

in the process of building the rule of law, modern countries usually regard democracy as an extremely important social development goal. This is because democracy plays an irreplaceable role in satisfying the legitimate demands of society, embodying justice and fairness, restricting state power and promoting citizen participation.

But democracy itself is a multi-dimensional concept, which can refer to both an institutional form and a political form, as well as the rights and freedoms enjoyed by citizens, as well as a procedural operation mechanism based on majority voting. From the perspective of functionalism, democracy does not represent an absolute goodness. It can play a positive role as well as a negative role.

Baidu Encyclopedia-The Rule of Law