ABSTRACT
The manner in which the rule of law limits the coercive powers of government is by tying these powers by previously announced general rules. If the difference between mere legality and the reign of law is today little understood, this is in large measure because we call every enactment of the legislature a law, while in the concept of the rule of law the term is used in an older, narrower sense. The known general laws which tell the private citizen in which circumstances and in what manner the government will use coercion have to him much the same significance as the known laws of nature; and need restrict his freedom no more than his knowledge of the natural effects of his actions. The state can achieve this only by threatening coercion to those who do not observe those lines of demarcation. Since in these instances coercion is the consequence of actions which are within the choice of the individual.
