Abstract
The ‘rule of law’ is one of the most important ideas in contemporary constitutional and political discourse. Yet it can be understood in more or less ‘anatomical’ versus ‘teleological’ ways. Martin Krygier has helped us better understand this distinction, and showed how a teleological approach can help guard against the misuse of the rule of law as an ideal. In this short essay, I further show how the kind of teleological approach developed by Krygier can help guard against a related, but distinct danger—i.e. the danger of ‘abusive constitutionalism’, or the abusive application of rule of law ideas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ABS-CBN News (2018) Duterte to Sereno: I Am Now Your Enemy. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/09/18/duterte-to-sereno-i-am-now-your-enemy. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
American Bar Association (2019) Our Work in the Philippines. https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/asia/philippines/programs/. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
Asia Foundation (2017) Legal and Justice Reform in the Philippines. https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Philippines_LAW_2017.pdf. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
Asian Development Bank (2018) Rule of Law for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: ADB’s Law and Policy Reform Program at Work. https://www.adb.org/annual-meeting/2018/events/rule-law-sustainable-development. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
Dixon R, Landau D (2015) Transnational constitutionalism and a limited doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment. Int J Const Law 13:606–638
Dixon R, Landau D (2019a) Abusive constitutional borrowing (unpublished manuscript)
Dixon R, Landau D (2019b) Abusive judicial review (unpublished manuscript)
Fallon RH Jr (1997) The rule of law as a concept in constitutional discourse. Colum L Rev 97:1–56
Flatt N (2018) Arbitrary power and the weakening of the rule of law in Duterte’s war on drugs. Lund University Masters Thesis
Huq A, Ginsburg T (2018) How to lose a constitutional democracy. UCLA L Rev 65:78–168
Kine P (2016) Dispatches: president Duterte’s mixed messages on rights in the philippines. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/25/dispatches-president-dutertes-mixed-messages-rights-philippines. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
Krygier M (2006) The rule of law: an abuser’s guide. In: Sajó A (ed) Abuse: the dark side of fundamental rights. Eleven International Publishing, The Hague, pp 129–161
Krygier M (2008) The rule of law: legality, teleology, sociology. In: Palombella G, Walker N (eds) Re-locating the rule of law. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp 45–70
Krygier M (2016) The rule of law: pasts, presents, and two possible futures. Ann Rev L Soc Sci 12:199–229
Landau D (2013) Abusive constitutionalism. UCDL Rev 47:189–260
Regalado E (2018) Sereno must be out of supreme court—Duterte. The Philippine Star. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/04/10/1804532/sereno-must-be-out-supreme-court-duterte. Accessed 23 Apr 2019
Scheppele KL (2013) The rule of law and the frankenstate: why governance checklists do not work. Goernance 26:559–562
Scheppele KL (2018) Autocratic legalism. U Chi L Rev 85:545–583
Tushnet M (2015) Authoritarian constitutionalism. Cornell L Rev 100:391–462
Varol O (2014) Stealth authoritarianism. Iowa L Rev 100:1673–1742
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dixon, R. Rule of Law Teleology: Against the Misuse and Abuse of Rule of Law Rhetoric. Hague J Rule Law 11, 461–464 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-019-00095-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-019-00095-1