Reflections on the Rule of Law

Authors

Chesterfield Smith, Holland & Knight

First Page

19

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Justice, fairness, and freedom traditionally have best been assured through the rule of law. Unfortunately, over the years, that truism has led Americans en masse to place less and less interest in developing standards of value above the law. Indeed, our country no longer is ruled by moral consensus. It is ruled instead by the ethic of laws. Thoughtful people understandably are beginning to question whether law alone can fill the void left by the diminished accountability and the lessened responsibility now rampantly evident in individual Americans. However, to those who yearn for a differing quality of societal rules, there is a dawning recognition that just because a person has the legal right to do

Recommended Citation

Chesterfield Smith, Reflections on the Rule of Law, 2 St. Thomas L. Rev. 19 (1990).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol2/iss1/6