This paper explores the effect that conformity to the rule of law has on the ends which might legitimately be pursued within a legal system. The neat distinction between formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law will be challenged: even apparently formal conceptions necessarily affect the content of law and necessarily entail the protection of certain fundamental rights. What remains of the formal/substantive dichotomy is, in fact, a distinction between conceptions of the rule of law which guarantee the substantive justice of each and every law and those which entail some commitment to basic requirements of justice while nevertheless leaving room for unjust laws. Ultimately, the only significant distinction between competing theories of the rule of law concerns the nature of the connection between legality and justice, not whether there is any such connection at all.

中文翻译：

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善法的规则：形式、实质和基本权利

本文探讨了遵守法治对法律体系内可能合法追求的目标的影响。法治的形式概念和实体概念之间的巧妙区别将受到挑战：即使是表面上形式的概念也必然会影响法律的内容，并必然涉及对某些基本权利的保护。实际上，形式/实体二分法的剩余部分是保证每项法律的实体正义的法治概念与需要对正义的基本要求作出一定承诺但仍为不公正法律留出空间的法治概念之间的区别. 归根结底，相互竞争的法治理论之间的唯一显着区别在于合法性与正义之间联系的性质，