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The rule of law means that everyone—including government—is accountable to public rules applied equally through fair, independent processes. It is more than having laws on the books: rules should be knowable and reasonably stable, officials should be answerable, and people should be able to seek justice from competent, independent decision-makers.
What the rule of law means
The United Nations page “What is the Rule of Law?” reproduces the Secretary-General’s description from report S/2004/616: “The Secretary-General has described the rule of law as ‘a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.’”
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In practical terms, the rule of law is a system: laws set public expectations, institutions apply them, and people have ways to challenge decisions and remedy wrongdoing. A country does not meet the idea merely because it has statutes, courts, or enforcement agencies. The rules and the way power is exercised must also satisfy standards of accountability, fairness, rights, and independent review.
Four principles that make the system work
The World Justice Project (WJP) describes the rule of law as a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment. Its four principles offer a useful framework, though constitutions and legal traditions do not all use identical institutional arrangements.
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Accountability
Government officials, public institutions, and private actors are answerable under the law. Accountability means that legal rules can apply to powerful decision-makers as well as to ordinary people, and that misconduct can be exposed and addressed.
Just law
Rules should be clear, publicized, reasonably stable, and applied evenly. They should protect human, property, and contract rights and provide procedural fairness. People need to be able to understand what is expected of them and what process applies when a dispute arises.
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Open government
Making, administering, adjudicating, and enforcing rules should happen through processes that people can access and understand. Transparency and opportunities for participation help people scrutinize decisions and see how public power is used.
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Courts and other neutral decision-makers need competence, independence, ethical conduct, adequate resources, and the ability to resolve disputes in a timely way. Justice must also be practically accessible, including for people who cannot easily afford legal processes.
How institutions contribute
No single branch or institution guarantees the rule of law. Legislatures establish legal rules; executive and administrative bodies carry them out; police and other enforcement bodies act under legal authority; and courts or other neutral forums interpret rules and decide disputes. Oversight bodies can expose or remedy misconduct, while civil society, journalists, and public participation can support accountability and open government.
These functions need checks. A person affected by a decision should have a fair way to challenge it, and officials should not be free to act arbitrarily. Checks need not take one universally prescribed form: WJP notes that they do not operate only through formal separation of powers and need not always be codified. The practical question is whether power is constrained and decisions can be reviewed fairly.
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How to recognize the rule of law in practice
These checks, drawn from UN criteria and WJP’s framework, can help assess how the system works in everyday life:
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- Are laws public, understandable, and reasonably stable?
- Are laws applied evenly, including to officials and powerful actors?
- Can people find out how government makes and applies decisions?
- Can they challenge a decision without arbitrary retaliation?
- Are courts and other decision-makers independent, ethical, timely, and accessible?
- Can people practically use and afford civil justice?
WJP’s illustrative questions include “Is the law understandable to all people?”, “Is the law publicly available and easily accessible?”, and “Is dispute resolution accessible and affordable?” Such questions focus on people’s experience, not only the wording of laws or the formal design of institutions.
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How the rule of law is measured
The WJP Rule of Law Index groups its measurement into eight factors. They cover different parts of the system, so comparisons are more informative when readers look beyond one overall score.
| WJP Index factor | What it examines |
|---|---|
| Constraints on Government Powers | Limits and accountability mechanisms on government authority. |
| Absence of Corruption | Corruption across public institutions and functions. |
| Open Government | Access to information, participation, and transparency. |
| Fundamental Rights | Protection of fundamental rights. |
| Order and Security | Safety and the maintenance of order. |
| Regulatory Enforcement | Whether regulations are implemented and enforced fairly and effectively. |
| Civil Justice | Access to and effectiveness of civil dispute resolution. |
| Criminal Justice | Effectiveness and fairness in the criminal justice system. |
Use the name and edition of the Index when comparing places, and consider its factors alongside the lived experience they represent. An overall score alone can conceal important differences—for example, one place may perform differently on transparency, safety, or access to civil justice than on constraints on government power. The Index provides a measurement framework, not a claim that every country must adopt identical institutions.
A WJP FAQ reports coverage of 143 countries and jurisdictions, based on more than 215,000 household surveys and 4,100 expert surveys. Those figures are as reported on the FAQ page; the page excerpt does not establish an edition year, so they should not be treated as current-year counts. See the WJP Rule of Law Index FAQ for its stated figures and context.
What the rule of law is not
The rule of law is not simply “law and order,” a large number of statutes, or enforcement without regard to fairness. The UN’s Rule of Law and Human Rights material connects the rule of law with human rights. A system also needs accountability, procedural safeguards, and independent adjudication; without these, legal power can be arbitrary even when rules formally exist.
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