Rule of Law as the Basis of a Democratic State

Abstract

«Rule of law» is not just a popular phrase. Its roots go back to antiquity, which can be confirmed by the works of Plato. In a later period, its successor was the English political thinker, philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). In the XIX–XX centuries, the English lawyer Dicey Albert Vann (1835–1922) successfully dealt with this problem. Despite the fact that the concept of the rule of law is recognized as the basis of the state system and is enshrined in a number of constitutions of the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in other countries, the so-called «old democracies», the legal provisions related to this legal category are very general in nature and do not give an unambiguous idea about it. The authors set the task of highlighting those key features that reveal the content of the term «rule of law» and, using the most common method in the scientific literature – describing characteristics (both formal and substantial), give them interpretations and, on this basis, formulate a general concept of the rule of law principle.