The ideal of the rule of law and private power

This chapter argues for the inclusion of private power as integral to the ideal of the rule of law, both as a potential source of the sorts of problems the rule of law is enlisted to solve, and as an indispensable contributor to solutions to such problems. If, as the paper argues, arbitrary power is the key danger the rule of law seeks to avert by effectively tempering the exercise of power, then we must be alert to sources of arbitrary power, whatever their sources and wherever they threaten serious harm. Often such threats come from entities outside governments. Conversely, private power is going to be crucial in relation to effective rule of law solutions as well; first, because law does nothing on its own and legal solutions themselves depend upon extra-legal supports, and secondly because it will often be necessary to draw upon resources quite apart from law to redeem the promise of the rule of law.