ABSTRACT
Aristotle poses the question ‘Is it more expedient to be ruled by the one best man, or by the best laws?’ He answers it thus: ‘The rule of law is preferable to that of a single citizen: even if it be the better course to have individuals ruling, they should be made law-guardians or ministers of the laws’. He does so in a discussion of kingship, where he opposes the view advanced by Plato in the Republic. There, Plato maintains that ideally government should be left to the free initiative and the discretion of the philosopher-king (or kings), who should be untrammelled by laws. Aristotle, on the other hand, considers that legislators themselves ought to be subject to the laws. 1 The contrast may be expressed by saying that Plato favours the personal rule of men whereas Aristotle favours the impersonal rule of law. By ‘a law’ (nomos) Aristotle understands ‘a general rule’. Laws are impersonal because they proceed from reason (logos) and not from some person, since it is the office of the legislator to discover and declare them rather than to make them.
