The Rule of Law - What Makes Liberty & Freedom For All

What is the 'Rule of Law' and why it is so critical to each and every American citizen.  The following definition is a first step to understanding how four words are so important to our Constitution and all Laws in America!

Rule of Law, the mechanism, process, institution, practice, or norm that supports the equality of ALL citizens before the law, secures a nonarbitrary form of government, and more generally prevents the arbitrary use of power.  Arbitrariness is typical of various forms of despotism, absolutism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.  Despotic governments include even highly institutionalized forms of rule in which the entity at the apex of the power structure (such as a KIng, a junta, or a party committee) is capable of acting without the constraint of law when it wishes to do so.

Montesquieu Montesquieu.