The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law

Introduces students, scholars, and practitioners to the theory and history of the rule of law.

Jens Meierhenrich (Edited by), Martin Loughlin (Edited by)

9781316512135, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 August 2021

500 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 4 cm, 0.113 kg

'Meierhenrich and Loughlin have gathered together leading legal scholars from around the world to produce an extraordinary collection of essays. The editors set out to challenge settled expectations by making “the rule of law strange again.” The result is a major contribution to legal theory – an indispensable text for scholars and an entire syllabus for the classroom.' Paul W. Kahn, Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, Yale Law School

The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law introduces students, scholars, and practitioners to the theory and history of the rule of law, one of the most frequently invoked-and least understood-ideas of legal and political thought and policy practice. It offers a comprehensive re-assessment by leading scholars of one of the world's most cherished traditions. This high-profile collection provides the first global and interdisciplinary account of the histories, moralities, pathologies and trajectories of the rule of law. Unique in conception, and critical in its approach, it evaluates, breaks down, and subverts conventional wisdom about the rule of law for the twenty-first century.

Part I. Introduction: Thinking About the Rule of Law Jens Meierhenrich and Martin Loughlin
Part II. Histories: 1. Classical Athens' radical democratic 'rule of law' Adriaan Lanni
2. Rechtsstaat versus the rule of law Jens Meierhenrich
3. État de droit: the gallicization of the rechtsstaat Luc Heuschling
4. Islamic conceptions of the rule of law Lawrence Rosen
5. Empires and the rule of law Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford
Part III. Moralities: 6. The rule of law as an essentially contested concept Jeremy Waldron
7. The rule of law in Montesquieu Sharon R. Krause
8. The spirit of legality: A. V. Dicey and the rule of law Mark D. Walters
9. Michael Oakeshott's republican theory of the rule of law Martin Loughlin
10. The morality of the rule of law: Lon Fuller Kristen Rundle
11. E. P. Thompson and the rule of law: qualifying the 'unqualified good' Douglas Hay
12. Functions of the rule of law Brian Z. Tamanaha
13. Modeling the rule of law Barry R. Weingast, Gillian K. Hadfield and Jens Meierhenrich
Part IV. Pathologies: 14. Thomas Hobbes and the rule-by-law tradition David Dyzenhaus
15. Conservative critiques of the rule of law Peter C. Caldwell
16. Judith Shklar's critique of legalism Seyla Benhabib and Paul Linden-Retek
17. The Frankfurt school and the rule of law William E. Scheuerman
18. Critical legal studies and the rule of law Mark Tushnet
19. Feminist critiques of the rule of law Vanessa E. Munro
20. Critical race theory and the rule of law Khiara M. Bridges
Part V. Trajectories: 21. Economic development and the rule of law Shane Chalmers and Sundhya Pahuja
22. Democracy and the rule of law Martin Krygier
23. Constitutionalism and the rule of law Roberto Gargarella
24. Punishment in the rule of law Lindsay Farmer
25. Populism and the rule of law Nicola Lacey
26. An 'international rule-of-law movement'? Stephen Humphreys
27. Measuring the rule of law Tom Ginsburg and Mila Versteeg
28. Post-conflict rule of law Jane E. Stromseth
29. A global rule of law Anne Orford
Part VI. Conclusion: 30. What the rule of law is… and is not Jens Meierhenrich.

Subject Areas: Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology [JHB], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS]