ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, we have established that a power totality is problematic and undesirable, and that it is a serious abuse of Marx’s original vision for a workers’ state. It is therefore necessary to reject this form of power, and reconfirm some of the basic principles in the use of state power as a public property, rather than an exclusive right of a few who stand outside and above the law. In this chapter, I will argue that there are several grounds on which to argue why law can be part of a remedy for curbing power abuse. First, the law should recognize that power should be checked as a principle. Secondly, the law has an instrumental role in power check. Thirdly, as legal history shows, the law has provided a vital forum for rejecting power totality and bringing the monarch under the law (as with the Magna Carta). I go on to stress, once more, the importance of the authority of law as well as of an independent judiciary. This discussion leads on to a discussion of the prospects of separating the judiciary from the government, and separating the government from the Party. This change will no doubt require the commitment and the willingness of the ruling party to the principle of power check on one hand, and the legal protection of people’s rights on the other. The limit of law will depend on this commitment to the power check principles, and also on the changing concept of authority as the power is to be transferred from one exclusive group to the people through their representatives. The law should facilitate this transition of power through the Constitution.
