The Rule of Law: What Does it Really Mean

On 18th December 2023, the Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Speakers Series organized by Sunway University and powered by ASLI, featured Mr. John Bowers KC, Principal of Brasenose College, University of Oxford, who gave a talk on the topic ‘The Rule of Law: What Does it Really Mean’.

Mr. Bowers addressed several definitions of the rule of law, and shared it’s key components which include:

1. Express legal authority for interferences with individual rights
2. Laws should be general, prospective, open, clear and stable
3. Laws should be known to people
4. Equal under the law: the Government is to be treated no differently
5. Access to the courts
6. Fairness or natural justice
7. An independent judiciary
8. The ethical underpinning

We thank Mr. Bowers for the lecture. ASLI is committed to supporting such enriching discussions crucial for societal advancement.