Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

rule of law

1. A substantive legal principle <under the rule of law known as respondeat superior, the employer is answerable for all wrongs committed by an employee in the course of the employment>. 2. The supremacy of regular as opposed to arbitrary power <citizens must respect the rule of law>. - Also termed supremacy of law. 3. The doctrine that every person is subject to the ordinary law within the jurisdiction <all persons within the United States are within the American rule of law>. 4. The doctrine that general constitutional principles are the result of judicial decisions determining the rights of private individuals in the courts <under the rule of law, Supreme Court caselaw makes up the bulk of what we call "constitutional law">. 5. Loosely, a legal ruling; a ruling on a point of law <the ratio decidendi of a case is any rule of law reached by the judge as a necessary step in the decision>.