ABSTRACT
The rule of law – in its many guises – represents a challenge to state authority and power, demanding both that powers be granted legitimately and that their exercise is according to law. ‘According to law’ means both according to the legal rules and something over and above purely formal legality and imputes the concepts of legitimacy and constitutionality. In its turn, legitimacy implies rightness or morality of law. The law is not autonomous but rests on the support of those it governs. The law is the servant of the sense of rightness in the community, and whilst the rule of law places law above every individual – irrespective of rank and station – it remains, paradoxically, subject to the ultimate judgment of the people.
