Law refers to a set of rules governing human behavior. It deals with social relationships, crime, and business agreements. Generally, it serves to maintain the status quo and preserve individual rights. The law can also help in orderly social change.
Rule of Law is the process of ensuring that laws are administered by an independent judiciary. Government officials should be held accountable for their actions. Those officials are supposed to be independent from other branches of government. However, this does not guarantee justice.
Rules of law should be written in a manner that is understandable to the layperson. In addition, they should be promulgated well before individuals are required to obey them. If not, the law may not work effectively.
The rule of law is a concept that is closely linked to the constitutional principle of separation of powers. The separation of powers is justified by the need to emphasize different stages of law-making and applying.
Rules of law are divided into two sub-categories: procedural and substantive. The former includes the formal aspects of law-making and governance by law, while the latter focuses on substantive values.
Aristotle argued that a man is safer than a written law. Fuller, on the other hand, believed that a law should be written in a way that is evenhandedly drafted. He also thought that bad things could happen in the dark and in the light.
Lon Fuller, however, identified eight formal principles of law. These are: prudence, generality, coherence, consistency, prospectivity, intelligibility, and practicability.