The rule of law and natural law

Kazimierz Opałek

pp. 91-98

in: Kazimierz Opałek, Selected papers in legal philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 1999

Abstract

The debate on the rule of law, now again for many years being carried on both in the West and in the East, is burdened with considerations referring to whole sets of technical problems (questions concerning the guaranteeing of the rule of law in the respective political systems) as well as ideological ones². The debate, very useful for various individual problems, is nevertheless sometimes subject to misunderstandings as to the meaning of concepts and terminology, a fact already noted by us elsewhere³. Our present paper, however, is concerned with a more general matter, that of the controversy existing between the formalistic and anti formalistic approach to the rule of law. I personally have repeatedly advocated the formalistic interpretation⁴. Since this attitude is constantly giving rise to doubt, I shall endeavour here to present the objections raised against formalism in their most drastic form and to explain where in my opinion they err.