Summarise and discuss Lord Bingham’s eight ‘sub-rules’ of the Rule of Law.


  • Lord Bingham based his view about the rule of law on three key assumptions:
    • Everyone should be equally bound by and entitled to the benefit of the law.
    • Laws must be publicly and prospectively published.
    • Laws should be publicly administered in the courts.
  • The law must be accessible, intelligible, clear and predictable.
  • Bingham’s rule of law suggests that it cannot exist without democracy. The rule of law is a kind of implicit contract between the state and the individual.

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