The Universality of the Rule of Law as an International Standard

Abstract

In a report to the Security Council of the United Nations in August 2004 the UN Secretary General said that ‘the rule of law’ is a concept at the very heart of the UN's mission. In September 2015 the UN agreed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (STGs) for 2015–30, which came into force on 1 January 2016. Goal 16.3 of the SDGs enshrines a commitment by all UN members to ‘promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and to ensure equal access to justice for all’. In March 2016 the Council of Europe's Commission for Democracy through Law, known as the Venice Commission, published a report which said that the rule of law is a concept of universal validity. It observed that in an increasing number of cases states refer to the rule of law in their national constitutions. The rule of law is expressly mentioned in a United Kingdom statute: section 1 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 says that the Act does not adversely affect the existing constitutional principle of the rule of law. The statute, however, does not contain any definition of the rule of law; nor does any other UK statute. There is no legally binding definition anywhere.