rule of law

English

Noun

rule of law (uncountable)

1. (law, often capitalized) The doctrine that no individual is above the law and that everyone must answer to it.
2. (law) The maxim whereby governmental decisions are made by applying known legal principles.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rule,‎ law.
   • Section 2(1), Electronic Transactions Act 2010 (Singapore)

     In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— […] “rule of law” includes written law; […]

   • Section 32(2)(b), Legislation Act 2019 (New Zealand)

     The repeal of legislation does not revive […] a rule of law that has been abolished.

Translations

the doctrine that no individual is above the law

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: estáu de derechu m
• Azerbaijani: qanunun aliliyi
• Belarusian: вяршэнства закону (vjaršenstva zakónu), вяршэнства права (vjaršenstva prava)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 法治 (zh) (fǎzhì)

• Czech: právní stát m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: laillisuusperiaate (fi)
• Georgian: კანონის უზენაესობა (ḳanonis uzenaesoba), სამართლის უზენაესობა (samartlis uzenaesoba), სამართლისა და კანონის უზენაესობის პრინციპი (samartlisa da ḳanonis uzenaesobis ṗrinciṗi)
• German: Rechtstaatlichkeit f, Rechtsstaat (de) m (constitutional state)
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: שלטון החוק m (shiltón hakhók)
• Hungarian: joguralom
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: supremasi hukum
• Japanese: 法の支配 (ja) (ほうのしはい, hō no shihai)
• Kazakh: заң билігі (zañ bilıgı)
• Khmer: នីតិរដ្ឋ (ni teh roth)
• Korean: 법치(法治) (ko) (beopchi), 법치주의(法治主義) (ko) (beopchijuui)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: praworządność (pl) f
• Romanian: stat de drept n
• Russian: верхове́нство пра́ва n (verxovénstvo práva), верхове́нство зако́на n (verxovénstvo zakóna), но́рма пра́ва (ru) f (nórma práva)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: imperio de la ley m, Estado de derecho m
• Swedish: rättsstat (sv) c
• Tajik: волоияти қонун (voloyiyat-i qonun)
• Thai: นิติธรรม (th) (ní-dtì-tam)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: верхове́нство пра́ва (uk) n (verxovénstvo práva)
• Vietnamese: pháp quyền (vi)

the maxim whereby governmental decisions are made by applying known legal principles

• Hungarian: jogállam (hu), jogállamiság (hu)

See also

• law and order