And which, in fact, state can be called legal? How to distinguish it from those that only declare their democracy in words, without translating it into action? What do the concept and signs of the rule of law mean? Today, from almost every government on the planet, one can hear statements about the rule of law in their country and the democratic nature of power. However, everything is not so cloudless in practice. Very often, such declared prosperity (legal or property) turns out to be just a beautiful picture that hides important problems in the country. Let’s try to learn to distinguish between a
rule-of-law state, the concept and characteristics of which necessarily presuppose that all norms of social life correspond to natural and civil human rights. However, this in no case should mean arbitrariness, and the freedoms of different people should not contradict one by one. The concept and
characteristics of the rule of law suggest the mandatory presence of an institutional structure in it. We are talking about the separation of
branches of government (into the executive, judicial, legislative, and possibly some others) and the mechanisms by which the people could influence their
government ( for example, referenda, re-election, a vote of no confidence).
What do the concept and signs of the rule of law suggest?
- The absolute rule of law in all public areas. The constitution and law should be the highest authorities for regulating life and protecting the interests of people. Absolutely all entities in the state, regardless of property, official or other kind of position, have a status subordinate to the law and are equal before it.
- The concept and characteristics of the rule of law presuppose the obligatory mutual responsibility of both an individual to the state and the state to each specific person. These standards must be clearly enshrined in the Constitution.
- High efficiency of monitoring compliance with the letter of the law. This is achieved through the operation of completely independent courts. Freedom of the judiciary plays a very important role as a guarantor of the inviolability of legal liberties.
- Law and law are an interconnected system, compulsorily complying with all the norms of international agreements that affect issues of human rights and freedoms.
- A prerequisite for such a society is political and ideological pluralism, officially enshrined in the Constitution.
- In addition to the foregoing, the concepts and signs of the rule of law, which determine the real state of affairs, also include the actual implementation of all these legal norms in practice. That is, not just prescribed, but really functioning separation of power branches, social security, guaranteed protection of human and civil freedoms of each person. Actually, it is the real fulfillment of all this that distinguishes a truly rule of law state.