"The real rule of law is substantive and encompasses many human-rights requirements. It reflects the idea of equality in a substantive way: not just that no one is above the law, but that everyone is equal before and under the law, and is entitled to its equal protection and equal benefit..."

Louise Arbour  ( Portrait by Nada Sesar-Raffay)

 ".... In 1848, Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, the French priest and political activist, rightly noted, “Between the strong and the weak, between the rich and the poor, between master and servant, it is freedom that oppresses and the law that sets free.” 

The purpose of law in a free and democratic society is to liberate, not to restrain. It is to create a safe and just environment in which human conduct is regulated, and power is constrained so that maximum freedom and safety is attained by all."  Louise Arbour, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights & president of the International Crisis Group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/opinion/UN-general-assembly-on-the-rule-of-law.html?ref=global

The Rule of Law

 By LOUISE ARBOUR

Published: September 26, 2012 

The rule of law.  

Everyone believes in it and wants to promote it. But as a high-level meeting convened by the new session of the United Nations General Assembly gets set to discuss the rule of law, it is doubtful that states even agree what the term really means...READ MORE