Basic Justice Demand: The Conceptual Condition of the Rule of Law

Formal principles alone do not amount to the rule of law, since almost any type of ruling by law calls for certain formal principles, yet not any such kind of ruling can be recognized as “the rule of law”. Political relations and law is essentially moral, which means that the rule of law is morally sensitive that it is at least able to achieve the rule of good law, and the prerequisite of any version of the rule of good law has to satisfy “basic justice demand”. Hence, “basic justice demand” is the conceptual prerequisite of the rule of law, while fundamental human rights and freedom is the key exemplar of which. However, the rule of law is not rendered as the rule of good law, it is merely the precondition of the rule of good law.