Law

The Rule of Law Is Not a Synonym for Order

A regime can be perfectly orderly and still fail every test the phrase was meant to impose.

3 July 2026

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The phrase is used so often as a term of approval that its content has thinned. It is worth recovering the narrower sense, in which it makes a demand that some well-run states fail.

Predictability is necessary but not sufficient. A rule can be perfectly clear and perfectly arbitrary.