The Rule of Law as Independent Political Ideal

  • Mariano Melero de la Torre Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Keywords: Legality, rule of law, constitutionalism, democracy, positivism, theory of justice, publicity, accountability

Abstract

The contemporary debate about the rule of law assumes an apparently inevitable dilemma: either we conceive this ideal as merely instrumental and therefore independent of any substantive political morality, or we devise it as a non-instrumental ideal and, thereupon, as tied to a specific theory of justice. This paper aims to offer an alternative, which is called the “formal-constitutional conception”, where legality appears as an independent and, simultaneously, intrinsically valuable political ideal. On the path of Lon Fuller, this conception consists of a number of procedural requirements that do not determine the content of the legal norms, but serve as a moral tribunal in which the positive law is accountable.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract Views: 969
PDF (Español (España)) : 2410
Published
2014-09-24
How to Cite
Melero de la Torre, M. (2014). The Rule of Law as Independent Political Ideal. EUNOMÍA. Revista En Cultura De La Legalidad, (7), 57-75. Retrieved from https://e-revistas.uc3m.es/index.php/EUNOM/article/view/2232
Section
Studies